Victory Capital Management Inc. Purchases 307 Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,003 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 307 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Woodward were worth $1,189,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 653.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,309,248 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $223,097,000 after purchasing an additional 2,002,572 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 15.4% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,749,193 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $718,131,000 after purchasing an additional 768,984 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 41.1% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,134,296 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $266,595,000 after purchasing an additional 621,559 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Woodward during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $23,812,000. Finally, Eaton Vance Management grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 63.4% during the first quarter. Eaton Vance Management now owns 580,570 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $72,519,000 after purchasing an additional 225,198 shares during the last quarter. 79.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Woodward Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WWD opened at $119.47 on Monday. Woodward, Inc. has a 12 month low of $87.79 and a 12 month high of $133.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 2.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $126.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $117.92. The firm has a market cap of $7.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.98, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.44.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 31st. The technology company reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $800.66 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $703.49 million. Woodward had a net margin of 7.34% and a return on equity of 11.46%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 30.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.64 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Woodward, Inc. will post 4.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 4th. Investors of record on Monday, November 20th will be given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 17th. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.51%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen raised shares of Woodward from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $135.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 5th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Woodward from $112.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Woodward in a report on Wednesday, September 27th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $152.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Woodward from $92.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, August 4th. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Woodward in a report on Tuesday, October 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $152.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $133.22.

Insider Activity at Woodward

In other news, VP Christopher Fawzy sold 5,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 4,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $648,570. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Christopher Fawzy sold 5,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 4,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $648,570. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rajeev Bhalla acquired 399 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 24th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $125.07 per share, with a total value of $49,902.93. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,779 shares in the company, valued at $222,499.53. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,079 shares of company stock valued at $1,426,185. Corporate insiders own 1.19% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Company Profile

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.