California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 2,094 Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 104,060 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,094 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Woodward were worth $17,318,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WWD. Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Woodward in the 4th quarter worth $33,000. NBT Bank N A NY acquired a new position in shares of Woodward during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Mather Group LLC. grew its holdings in shares of Woodward by 44.8% during the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 278 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Woodward in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $57,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in Woodward by 52.0% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 374 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In other Woodward news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were 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. The trade was a 20.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was 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 directly owns 15,477 shares in the company, valued at $2,855,506.50. This represents a 39.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 27,900 shares of company stock valued at $5,215,444 in the last ninety days. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Woodward Stock Down 10.1 %

WWD stock opened at $157.29 on Friday. Woodward, Inc. has a 1-year low of $144.45 and a 1-year high of $201.64. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $184.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $177.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.34 billion, a PE ratio of 26.35, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.39.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 last year, the firm earned $1.45 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is a boost from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 20th. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.76%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Woodward has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $197.38.

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.