Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Decreases Stock Position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. decreased its position in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 476,790 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 21,127 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. owned about 0.80% of Woodward worth $79,347,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WWD. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Woodward during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Woodward during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. NBT Bank N A NY acquired a new position in shares of Woodward in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Mather Group LLC. raised its holdings in Woodward by 44.8% in the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 278 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Woodward during the 4th quarter valued at $57,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of the business’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 transaction of $864,156.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 17,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,278,157. The trade was 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 available at the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.36, for a total value of $641,388.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,008,109.72. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 27,900 shares of company stock valued at $5,215,444. Company insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Stock Down 2.5 %

Woodward stock opened at $183.29 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.89. Woodward, Inc. has a one year low of $144.45 and a one year high of $201.64. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $186.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.39.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company earned $1.45 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The firm 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%. This is a positive change from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 20th. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.76%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WWD has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com upgraded Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. 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 report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, 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.