Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC Acquires Shares of 5,000 Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 5,000 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $832,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Focus Partners Wealth purchased a new stake in Woodward during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $294,000. Eisler Capital Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Woodward during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $11,551,000. Farallon Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Woodward by 31.8% in the fourth quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,521,300 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $253,175,000 after purchasing an additional 367,300 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in shares of Woodward by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 4,915 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $818,000 after purchasing an additional 942 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Woodward by 700.5% in the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 97,291 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $16,191,000 after purchasing an additional 85,137 shares in the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.50, for a total transaction of $1,845,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,855,506.50. This trade represents a 39.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total value of $864,156.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 17,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,278,157. This trade represents a 20.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 30,700 shares of company stock valued at $5,751,700 over the last three months. 0.82% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on WWD shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $187.00 target price on shares of Woodward and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $193.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Woodward from $205.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. StockNews.com raised shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Woodward from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $195.00.

Woodward Stock Up 1.4%

NASDAQ WWD opened at $206.08 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The company has a fifty day moving average of $181.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $179.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.52, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.24. Woodward, Inc. has a 52 week low of $145.98 and a 52 week high of $208.14.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The technology company reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $883.63 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $838.61 million. Woodward had a net margin of 11.18% and a return on equity of 16.76%. Woodward’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.62 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 22nd. Woodward’s payout ratio is 18.09%.

About Woodward

Woodward, Inc designs, manufactures, and services control solutions for the aerospace and industrial markets worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Aerospace and Industrial. The Aerospace segment provides fuel pumps, metering units, actuators, air valves, specialty valves, fuel nozzles, and thrust reverser actuation systems for turbine engines and nacelles, and flight deck controls, actuators, servocontrols, motors, and sensors for aircraft.