Stephens Inc. AR Sells 1,200 Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Stephens Inc. AR reduced its position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 19.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,867 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,200 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Woodward were worth $810,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WWD. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in shares of Woodward in the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC bought a new position in shares of Woodward during the third quarter worth $31,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Woodward during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Woodward during the third quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 44.8% during the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 278 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Woodward Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of WWD opened at $190.73 on Friday. Woodward, Inc. has a twelve month low of $135.93 and a twelve month high of $201.64. The company has a market cap of $11.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $180.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $171.26.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $1.45 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.12 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. This is an increase from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.75%.

Insider Activity

In other Woodward news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.99, for a total value of $1,799,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,071,864.89. The trade was a 46.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total transaction of $430,968.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,764,325.91. This trade represents a 10.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 32,400 shares of company stock valued at $5,844,768. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WWD. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Truist Financial upped their target price 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 target price 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays upped their price target 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.