Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Holdings Trimmed by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund cut its holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 3.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 82,690 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,800 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.14% of Woodward worth $13,761,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Woodward by 135.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 992,189 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $170,170,000 after purchasing an additional 570,124 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in Woodward during the third quarter valued at about $2,547,000. PEAK6 Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Woodward in the third quarter worth about $2,448,000. Citigroup Inc. increased its position in shares of Woodward by 12.1% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 64,153 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $11,003,000 after acquiring an additional 6,917 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ingalls & Snyder LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,698,000. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Woodward Stock Down 2.8 %

Woodward stock opened at $184.74 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.40. Woodward, Inc. has a 1-year low of $136.25 and a 1-year high of $201.64. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $181.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $172.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its quarterly 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 return on equity of 16.76% and a net margin of 11.18%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.45 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.61%. This is a boost from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Woodward’s payout ratio is presently 18.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,963 shares in the company, valued at $3,764,325.91. This represents a 10.27 % 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 business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.54, for a total transaction of $1,795,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 11,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,066,684.94. The trade was a 46.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 32,400 shares of company stock valued at $5,844,768. Company insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WWD has been the topic of several research analyst reports. 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 research report on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group upped their price target on Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays upped their target price on Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.