Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Shares Acquired by Alliancebernstein L.P.

Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 85,488 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,033 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned approximately 0.14% of Woodward worth $14,227,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Woodward in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. NBT Bank N A NY bought a new stake in Woodward during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Mather Group LLC. grew its position in Woodward by 44.8% in 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 during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at $57,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of Woodward by 52.0% during 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 during the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on WWD shares. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Woodward from $205.00 to $172.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $193.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In other Woodward news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.50, for a total value of $1,845,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,477 shares in the company, valued at $2,855,506.50. The trade was a 39.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total transaction of $864,156.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,278,157. This trade represents a 20.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 27,900 shares of company stock worth $5,215,444 over the last 90 days. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Woodward Price Performance

Shares of WWD opened at $157.51 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $183.38 and its 200-day moving average is $176.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The company has a market capitalization of $9.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.12. Woodward, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.45 and a fifty-two week high of $201.64.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released 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 posted $1.45 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

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

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.