Blue Trust Inc. Buys 432 Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 12.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,003 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 432 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Woodward were worth $686,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Woodward in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $99,000,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Woodward by 135.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 992,189 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $170,170,000 after purchasing an additional 570,124 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Woodward by 4.8% in the 3rd 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 during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $13,165,000 after purchasing an additional 76,313 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alpha Wave Global LP raised its stake in shares of Woodward by 26.0% during the 3rd quarter. Alpha Wave Global LP now owns 311,253 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $53,383,000 after purchasing an additional 64,212 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Stock Up 1.3 %

WWD stock opened at $185.90 on Friday. Woodward, Inc. has a twelve month low of $133.56 and a twelve month high of $201.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.99 billion, a PE ratio of 30.93, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $178.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $170.56.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The technology company reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.19. Woodward had a net margin of 11.22% and a return on equity of 17.13%. The business had revenue of $855.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $810.39 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.33 EPS. Woodward’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Woodward, Inc. will post 6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is 16.64%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on WWD shares. 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 report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Woodward from $197.00 to $193.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays boosted 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. StockNews.com upgraded Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective (down from $186.00) on shares of Woodward in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Woodward has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $190.11.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.85, for a total value of $1,818,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 11,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,093,275.35. This represents a 46.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 60,313 shares of company stock worth $10,752,072 over the last ninety days. 0.82% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.