International Assets Investment Management LLC Increases Stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 63,881.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 60,782 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 60,687 shares during the quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC owned about 0.10% of Woodward worth $8,274,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Woodward in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $4,911,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Woodward by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,721,250 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $710,923,000 after purchasing an additional 59,884 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Woodward by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 998,396 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $124,061,000 after purchasing an additional 61,216 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of Woodward by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 381,273 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $47,377,000 after purchasing an additional 40,957 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Woodward by 95.3% in the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 13,059 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,621,000 after purchasing an additional 6,374 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Woodward

In other Woodward news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 38,700 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.98, for a total transaction of $5,494,626.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,680,049.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Christopher Fawzy sold 11,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $1,540,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,836 shares in the company, valued at $677,040. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 38,700 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.98, for a total value of $5,494,626.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 11,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,680,049.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 51,200 shares of company stock valued at $7,242,916. 1.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on WWD shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Woodward from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Woodward from $136.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Alembic Global Advisors cut shares of Woodward from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $148.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Woodward from $168.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $152.89.

Woodward Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of WWD opened at $146.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.65 and a quick ratio of 1.69. Woodward, Inc. has a 1 year low of $91.42 and a 1 year high of $160.79. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $145.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $136.84. The firm has a market cap of $8.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.36.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 29th. The technology company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.33. Woodward had a net margin of 9.50% and a return on equity of 15.26%. The business had revenue of $786.73 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.13 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.49 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 27.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Woodward, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 20th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. This is a positive change from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.10%.

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.