AXQ Capital LP Acquires New Holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

AXQ Capital LP acquired a new stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 3,708 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $617,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in Woodward by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 649,961 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $108,166,000 after buying an additional 36,911 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Woodward by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 27,449 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,568,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the period. Blueshift Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Woodward during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $237,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its position in Woodward by 60.4% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 23,554 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,920,000 after purchasing an additional 8,873 shares during the period. Finally, Xponance Inc. increased its position in Woodward by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 6,749 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,123,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Woodward

In other news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.50, for a total transaction of $1,845,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,477 shares in the company, valued at $2,855,506.50. The trade was a 39.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total value of $864,156.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 17,450 shares in the company, valued at $3,278,157. The trade was a 20.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Woodward has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $197.38.

Woodward Stock Performance

Shares of WWD stock opened at $185.39 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $11.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.39. Woodward, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.45 and a 52 week 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 firm has a 50 day moving average of $185.66 and a 200-day moving average of $175.76.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) 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 posted $1.45 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th were given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. This is an increase from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.76%.

Woodward Company 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.