Teacher Retirement System of Texas Has $3.92 Million Stock Position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its holdings in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 60.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,554 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 8,873 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Woodward were worth $3,920,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of WWD. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in shares of Woodward in the third quarter worth about $28,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Woodward in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. NBT Bank N A NY acquired a new stake in Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Mather Group LLC. grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 44.8% during the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 278 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Woodward during the fourth quarter worth $57,000. 81.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Woodward Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WWD opened at $192.12 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.40 billion, a PE ratio of 32.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.39. Woodward, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.45 and a fifty-two week high of $201.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.89. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $185.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.07.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its 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 earned $1.45 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. This is an increase from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 20th. Woodward’s payout ratio is currently 18.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total transaction of $864,156.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,450 shares of the company’s stock, 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 link. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.50, for a total value of $1,845,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 15,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,855,506.50. This represents a 39.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.