Xponance Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Xponance Inc. boosted its position in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,259 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Woodward were worth $988,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Woodward by 79.3% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 199 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Woodward during the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp bought a new stake in Woodward during the third quarter worth about $77,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 12.9% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,746 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $217,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Toth Financial Advisory Corp bought a new position in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter valued at about $301,000. Institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WWD opened at $149.74 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.65, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $147.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $138.15. The company has a market cap of $9.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.36. Woodward, Inc. has a 12 month low of $91.42 and a 12 month high of $160.79.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The technology company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $786.73 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.13 million. Woodward had a return on equity of 15.26% and a net margin of 9.50%. Woodward’s quarterly revenue was up 27.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.49 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Woodward, Inc. will post 5.27 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 38,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 11,833 shares in the company, valued at $1,680,049.34. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 38,700 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.98, for a total transaction of $5,494,626.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,833 shares in the company, valued at $1,680,049.34. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.86, for a total value of $208,290.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 20,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,850,934.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 51,200 shares of company stock worth $7,242,916. 1.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Woodward from $165.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Woodward from $159.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Alembic Global Advisors downgraded shares of Woodward from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $148.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. StockNews.com cut Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on Woodward from $136.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Woodward currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $158.22.

About Woodward

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.