Creative Planning Trims Stock Holdings in Woodward, Inc. $WWD

Creative Planning lessened its holdings in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 39.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,393 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 3,508 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning’s holdings in Woodward were worth $1,322,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Woodward by 189.8% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 171 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Virtus Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Woodward during the 1st quarter worth $38,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in shares of Woodward by 32.5% in the 2nd quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 220 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Woodward by 2,218.2% in the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 255 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in shares of Woodward by 25.9% in the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 505 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $92,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Woodward

In related news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $244.32, for a total transaction of $427,560.00. Following the sale, the director owned 20,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,121,680.16. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.82% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WWD has been the topic of several research reports. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Woodward from $294.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Alembic Global Advisors raised Woodward from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $281.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $200.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Woodward from $303.00 to $329.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $273.22.

Woodward Stock Up 0.7%

WWD opened at $300.29 on Friday. 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 12 month low of $146.82 and a 12 month high of $303.07. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $260.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $247.38. The stock has a market cap of $18.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.26.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 24th. The technology company reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $995.26 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $943.15 million. Woodward had a return on equity of 16.57% and a net margin of 11.32%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.41 earnings per share. Woodward has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.500-8.000 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, November 20th that permits the company to buyback $1.80 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 11.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.58%.

Woodward Company 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.