EP Wealth Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 8,095 Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 8,095 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $390,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WWD. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Woodward by 653.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,309,248 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $223,097,000 after acquiring an additional 2,002,572 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 15.4% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,749,193 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $718,131,000 after buying an additional 768,984 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 41.1% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,134,296 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $266,595,000 after buying an additional 621,559 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter valued at about $23,812,000. Finally, Eaton Vance Management lifted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 63.4% during the 1st quarter. Eaton Vance Management now owns 580,570 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $72,519,000 after buying an additional 225,198 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.63% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Christopher Fawzy sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $650,000.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 4,989 shares in the company, valued at $648,570. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Rajeev Bhalla purchased 399 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $125.07 per share, for a total transaction of $49,902.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,779 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $222,499.53. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Christopher Fawzy sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total value of $650,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 4,989 shares in the company, valued at $648,570. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 11,079 shares of company stock worth $1,426,185. Company insiders own 1.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Woodward in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Woodward from $110.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 1st. Barclays boosted their target price on Woodward from $112.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Woodward from $92.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, August 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Woodward from $110.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $124.38.

Woodward Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of WWD stock opened at $129.02 on Monday. Woodward, Inc. has a 12 month low of $79.26 and a 12 month high of $133.15. The firm has a market cap of $7.80 billion, a PE ratio of 38.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $125.34 and a 200-day moving average of $111.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 2.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 31st. The technology company reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.40. Woodward had a return on equity of 11.46% and a net margin of 7.34%. The company had revenue of $800.66 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $703.49 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.64 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 30.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Woodward, Inc. will post 4.15 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 14th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 11th. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.51%.

About Woodward

Woodward, Inc designs, manufactures, and services control solutions for the aerospace and industrial markets worldwide. The company operates through 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.