Great Lakes Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 25,211 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,196,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $465,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of 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 period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of Woodward in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,547,000. PEAK6 Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Woodward in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,448,000. Finally, Citigroup Inc. boosted 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 valued at $11,003,000 after acquiring an additional 6,917 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Stock Performance

Woodward stock opened at $180.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $184.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $174.87. Woodward, Inc. has a 52-week low of $144.29 and a 52-week high of $201.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.39.

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

Woodward Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 20th. This is a boost from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.76%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WWD shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective 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 upped their target price on Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group upped their target price on Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note 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 research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $197.38.

Insider Transactions at Woodward

In other news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,278,157. This represents 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 accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

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.