Retirement Systems of Alabama Purchases 69 Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its position in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 0.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 139,363 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 69 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Woodward were worth $23,193,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 3.5% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,758 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $302,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Woodward by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,355 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Delta Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Woodward by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Delta Capital Management LLC now owns 1,805 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $300,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. raised its position in shares of Woodward by 44.8% during the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 278 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its stake in shares of Woodward by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 1,790 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $298,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Woodward

In other news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total transaction of $430,968.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 20,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,764,325.91. This represents a 10.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.85, for a total value of $1,818,500.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,093,275.35. This represents a 46.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 50,313 shares of company stock valued at $9,007,072 over the last ninety days. 0.82% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WWD has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays upped their price target on Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group upped their target price on Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Woodward has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $197.38.

Woodward Stock Up 2.3 %

WWD opened at $194.29 on Friday. Woodward, Inc. has a twelve month low of $134.82 and a twelve month high of $201.64. The firm has a market cap of $11.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.33, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $179.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $170.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.89.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.21. Woodward had a net margin of 11.22% and a return on equity of 17.13%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.45 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Woodward, Inc. will post 6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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 0.58%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.76%.

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.