Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Shares Sold by Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB reduced its stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,703 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 150 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB’s holdings in Woodward were worth $2,447,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Woodward by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,160 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $526,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Trust Point Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward during the fourth quarter worth about $296,000. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 42.8% in the 4th quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 1,747 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $318,000 after purchasing an additional 524 shares during the period. Finally, R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Woodward during the 4th quarter worth approximately $57,000. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Woodward Price Performance

WWD stock opened at $195.22 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.89. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $179.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $170.82. The firm has a market cap of $11.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.70, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.40. Woodward, Inc. has a 1 year low of $134.82 and a 1 year high of $201.64.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 period last year, the business posted $1.45 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.57%. This is a positive change from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.75%.

Insider Activity at Woodward

In related news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total transaction of $430,968.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 20,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,764,325.91. The trade was a 10.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.85, for a total transaction of $1,818,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,093,275.35. The trade was a 46.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 40,313 shares of company stock worth $7,230,572. 0.82% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Truist Financial increased their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays increased their price target on Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Woodward presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $197.38.

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.