Woodward, Inc. $WWD Shares Purchased by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 1.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,765 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Woodward were worth $687,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WWD. Farallon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Woodward by 31.8% during the fourth quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,521,300 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $253,175,000 after purchasing an additional 367,300 shares during the period. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. boosted its stake in Woodward by 130.2% during the fourth quarter. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. now owns 1,328,765 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $221,133,000 after buying an additional 751,541 shares in the last quarter. Duquesne Family Office LLC boosted its stake in Woodward by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Duquesne Family Office LLC now owns 1,225,750 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $203,989,000 after buying an additional 168,035 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Woodward by 5.0% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,092,257 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $199,326,000 after buying an additional 51,873 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 15.2% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 628,502 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $104,595,000 after purchasing an additional 82,792 shares during the period. 81.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Woodward news, EVP Randall Hobbs sold 846 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $211,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 48,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,245,250. The trade was a 1.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles P. Blankenship sold 5,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.41, for a total value of $1,142,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 67,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,346,639.49. This represents a 6.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 19,296 shares of company stock valued at $4,464,433 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WWD has been the subject of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $291.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Northcoast Research upgraded Woodward to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Woodward from $229.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective (up from $225.00) on shares of Woodward in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Woodward from $200.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Woodward currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $253.11.

Woodward Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of Woodward stock opened at $246.82 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $14.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 1.39. Woodward, Inc. has a 52-week low of $146.82 and a 52-week high of $267.45. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $250.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $213.85.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 28th. The technology company reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.14. Woodward had a return on equity of 16.57% and a net margin of 11.32%.The business had revenue of $915.45 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $884.98 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.63 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Woodward has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.500-6.750 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Woodward’s payout ratio is currently 17.72%.

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.