Wealthstream Advisors Inc. Takes $212,000 Position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Wealthstream Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,273 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $212,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WWD. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. bought a new position in Woodward in the 3rd quarter worth about $99,000,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 570,124 shares during the period. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT bought a new position in Woodward in the fourth quarter worth approximately $20,045,000. State Street Corp grew 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 worth $415,309,000 after purchasing an additional 110,569 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Woodward by 17,072.3% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 76,760 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $13,165,000 after purchasing an additional 76,313 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Trading Down 2.8 %

NASDAQ:WWD opened at $184.74 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $181.94 and a 200 day moving average of $172.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Woodward, Inc. has a 52 week low of $136.25 and a 52 week high of $201.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.94, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.40.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm posted $1.45 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is a positive change from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. Woodward’s payout ratio is presently 18.76%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total value of $430,968.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,764,325.91. This represents a 10.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.54, for a total value of $1,795,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 11,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,066,684.94. This trade represents a 46.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,400 shares of company stock worth $5,844,768 over the last 90 days. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on WWD. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays upped 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. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.