Natixis Advisors LLC Has $16.49 Million Position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 14.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 99,057 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,838 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC owned 0.17% of Woodward worth $16,485,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WWD. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Woodward by 4.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,421,483 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $415,309,000 after acquiring an additional 110,569 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Woodward by 4.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,278,502 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $219,321,000 after acquiring an additional 59,290 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Woodward by 135.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 992,189 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $170,170,000 after acquiring an additional 570,124 shares during the last quarter. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. bought a new position in Woodward in the third quarter valued at approximately $99,000,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Woodward by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 503,977 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $83,872,000 after acquiring an additional 3,099 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WWD opened at $184.74 on Wednesday. Woodward, Inc. has a 12 month low of $144.45 and a 12 month high of $201.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $185.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $175.36. The firm has a market cap of $10.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.94, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.39.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 quarter last year, the business earned $1.45 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors 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 of this dividend was Thursday, February 20th. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In other Woodward news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total value of $864,156.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,278,157. The trade was a 20.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Truist Financial lifted their price target 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $197.38.

Woodward 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.