Legal & General Group Plc Cuts Position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its stake in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 114,976 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 5,736 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Woodward were worth $19,134,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Woodward during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. NBT Bank N A NY acquired a new position in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Mather Group LLC. boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 44.8% in the 4th 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 about $57,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Woodward Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WWD opened at $170.02 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $10.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.12. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $181.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $177.02. Woodward, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.45 and a 52 week high of $201.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.21. Woodward had a return on equity of 16.76% and a net margin of 11.18%. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.45 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 positive change from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is 18.76%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on WWD. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Woodward from $205.00 to $172.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Woodward currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $193.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 3,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.36, for a total value of $641,388.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,477 shares in the company, valued at $3,008,109.72. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total value of $864,156.00. Following 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 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 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

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.