Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Shares Sold by Wells Fargo & Company MN

Wells Fargo & Company MN lowered its position in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 28.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 36,029 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 14,412 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned approximately 0.06% of Woodward worth $5,996,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WWD. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. grew its stake in Woodward by 145.0% during the fourth quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 6,751 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,124,000 after buying an additional 3,996 shares during the period. Bryce Point Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Woodward in the 4th quarter valued at $1,467,000. Trexquant Investment LP raised its position in Woodward by 106.7% in the fourth quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 68,504 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $11,400,000 after purchasing an additional 35,359 shares during the period. Elwood Capital Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Woodward during the fourth quarter worth about $832,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,302,237 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $216,771,000 after buying an additional 23,735 shares during the period. 81.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “reduce” rating on shares of Woodward in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $187.00 price objective on shares of Woodward and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. StockNews.com lowered Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price target on Woodward from $229.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $193.75.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total transaction of $864,156.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 17,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,278,157. This trade represents a 20.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.50, for a total value of $1,845,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,855,506.50. This trade represents a 39.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 27,900 shares of company stock valued at $5,215,444. 0.82% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Woodward Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WWD opened at $169.17 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.12. The business has a 50-day moving average of $179.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.95. Woodward, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $145.98 and a fifty-two week high of $201.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.19.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.21. Woodward had a net margin of 11.18% and a return on equity of 16.76%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.45 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 20th. This is a positive change from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Woodward’s payout ratio is 18.76%.

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.