Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Cuts Stock Holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio reduced its stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 0.6% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 35,631 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 214 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Woodward were worth $6,111,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp raised its position in Woodward by 4.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,421,483 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $415,309,000 after purchasing an additional 110,569 shares in the last quarter. Maven Securities LTD purchased a new position in shares of Woodward during the 3rd quarter valued at about $518,000. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. bought a new stake in Woodward in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $99,000,000. Ingalls & Snyder LLC purchased a new stake in Woodward in the third quarter worth approximately $1,698,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Woodward by 0.7% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 27,255 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,673,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,764,325.91. This trade represents a 10.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.85, for a total transaction of $1,818,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 11,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,093,275.35. This trade represents a 46.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 60,313 shares of company stock worth $10,752,072. Company insiders own 1.12% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Price Performance

WWD opened at $175.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.35 billion, a PE ratio of 29.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $171.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $170.98. Woodward, Inc. has a 52-week low of $131.12 and a 52-week high of $201.64.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 25th. The technology company reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $855.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $810.39 million. Woodward had a net margin of 11.22% and a return on equity of 17.13%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.33 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Woodward, Inc. will post 5.98 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. Woodward’s payout ratio is 16.64%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $226.00 price objective (up from $187.00) on shares of Woodward in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Woodward from $209.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Woodward from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $187.44.

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.