Polymer Capital Management US LLC Takes $254,000 Position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Polymer Capital Management US LLC acquired a new position in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 1,526 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $254,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Atomi Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Woodward by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,355 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $225,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of Woodward by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 401 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Delta Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Woodward by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Delta Capital Management LLC now owns 1,805 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $300,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC grew its position in Woodward by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 1,324 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $220,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. increased its stake in Woodward by 44.8% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 278 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on WWD shares. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com cut Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $197.38.

Woodward Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of WWD opened at $160.25 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.84, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.12. Woodward, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.45 and a 52 week high of $201.64. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $184.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $177.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.21. Woodward had a return on equity of 16.76% and a net margin of 11.18%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.45 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 20th. This is a positive change from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In other Woodward news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.49, for a total value of $1,864,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,886,305.73. The trade was a 39.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 27,900 shares of company stock valued at $5,215,444. Corporate insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

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.