Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Shares Sold by Federated Hermes Inc.

Federated Hermes Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 18.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 101,754 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 22,750 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. owned 0.17% of Woodward worth $13,852,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Woodward by 1.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,721,250 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $710,923,000 after acquiring an additional 59,884 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Woodward by 6.3% in the third quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,062,665 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $132,047,000 after acquiring an additional 62,897 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Woodward by 6.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 998,396 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $124,061,000 after purchasing an additional 61,216 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Woodward by 0.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 496,844 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $61,738,000 after purchasing an additional 1,783 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP lifted its stake in Woodward by 61.9% during the third quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 490,042 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $60,893,000 after purchasing an additional 187,300 shares in the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WWD has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group upped their price target on Woodward from $168.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Woodward from $136.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays upped their price objective on Woodward from $134.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Woodward from $159.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $158.22.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Christopher Fawzy sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $1,540,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $677,040. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Woodward news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.86, for a total value of $208,290.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,850,934.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Christopher Fawzy sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $1,540,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,836 shares in the company, valued at approximately $677,040. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 51,200 shares of company stock valued at $7,242,916. Company insiders own 1.12% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of WWD opened at $148.24 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $146.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $137.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.65. The company has a market capitalization of $8.94 billion, a PE ratio of 31.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.36. Woodward, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $91.42 and a fifty-two week high of $160.79.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 29th. The technology company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.33. Woodward had a net margin of 9.50% and a return on equity of 15.26%. The company had revenue of $786.73 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $750.13 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.49 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 27.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Woodward, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 20th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. This is a boost from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 16th. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is 21.10%.

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.