State Street Corp Boosts Stock Position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

State Street Corp raised its holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,421,483 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 110,569 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp’s holdings in Woodward were worth $415,309,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in shares of Woodward during the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC bought a new position in Woodward in the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Woodward during the 2nd quarter worth $37,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Woodward during the 3rd quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in Woodward by 101.6% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 246 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on WWD shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Woodward from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Woodward from $209.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $160.00 price target (down previously from $186.00) on shares of Woodward in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $226.00 price objective (up from $187.00) on shares of Woodward in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $187.44.

Insider Transactions at Woodward

In other news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of the business’s 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 directly owns 20,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,764,325.91. The trade was a 10.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.65, for a total value of $1,776,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,044,929.15. 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 90 days, insiders have sold 60,313 shares of company stock worth $10,752,072. Insiders own 1.12% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Trading Up 0.0 %

NASDAQ:WWD opened at $179.73 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.91, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. Woodward, Inc. has a 52 week low of $131.12 and a 52 week high of $201.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $170.62 and a 200 day moving average of $170.97.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 25th. The technology company reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.19. Woodward had a return on equity of 17.13% and a net margin of 11.22%. The firm had revenue of $855.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $810.39 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.33 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Woodward, Inc. will post 5.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. Woodward’s payout ratio is 16.64%.

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.