Russell Investments Group Ltd. Purchases 168 Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,704 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Woodward were worth $616,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC lifted its position in Woodward by 51.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 42,189 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,236,000 after buying an additional 14,326 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Woodward during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,547,000. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in Woodward by 11.0% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 2,738 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $470,000 after acquiring an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Woodward by 135.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 992,189 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $170,170,000 after purchasing an additional 570,124 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Woodward by 54.4% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $178,000 after purchasing an additional 376 shares in the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WWD has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com cut Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “reduce” rating on shares of Woodward in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Woodward from $229.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. 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. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $193.75.

Woodward Price Performance

WWD opened at $167.81 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $178.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $176.94. Woodward, Inc. has a 52-week low of $145.98 and a 52-week high of $201.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.89.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the company earned $1.45 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th were issued a $0.28 dividend. This is an increase from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.76%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.