Natixis Advisors LLC Has $16.49 Million Stock Holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 14.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 99,057 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,838 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Woodward were worth $16,485,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Woodward by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 4,503 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $749,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter worth about $4,196,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 85.4% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 6,919 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,151,000 after buying an additional 3,188 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 15,577 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,592,000 after buying an additional 1,628 shares during the period. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 16,008 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,664,000 after buying an additional 1,512 shares during the period. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on WWD. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Woodward presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $197.38.

Insider Transactions at Woodward

In related news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total transaction of $864,156.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,450 shares in the company, valued at $3,278,157. This represents a 20.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Woodward Stock Performance

Shares of Woodward stock opened at $184.74 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $185.33 and a 200-day moving average of $175.36. Woodward, Inc. has a 1-year low of $144.45 and a 1-year high of $201.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The company has a market cap of $10.97 billion, a PE ratio of 30.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.39.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.21. Woodward had a net margin of 11.18% and a return on equity of 16.76%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 20th. This is an increase from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is 18.76%.

Woodward Company Profile

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.