AlphaCentric Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 215 Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

AlphaCentric Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 215 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WWD. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Woodward in the 4th quarter valued at $84,157,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Woodward by 743.5% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 223,639 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $34,452,000 after acquiring an additional 197,125 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 12.3% in the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,345,438 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $207,359,000 after acquiring an additional 147,856 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of Woodward by 37.6% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 524,683 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $71,425,000 after acquiring an additional 143,410 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Woodward by 1.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,835,915 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $899,431,000 after purchasing an additional 77,654 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on WWD shares. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $170.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Woodward from $228.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $197.00 to $158.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Woodward from $200.00 to $186.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.11.

Woodward Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of WWD opened at $162.65 on Tuesday. Woodward, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $119.03 and a fifty-two week high of $188.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $169.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $162.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.96. The company has a market capitalization of $9.91 billion, a PE ratio of 28.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.37.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The technology company reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $847.69 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $853.29 million. Woodward had a return on equity of 17.16% and a net margin of 11.47%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Woodward, Inc. will post 5.91 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 22nd. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.48%.

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.