Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Shares Bought by Barclays PLC

Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 313.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 174,476 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 132,287 shares during the period. Barclays PLC owned about 0.29% of Woodward worth $29,037,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Woodward in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. NBT Bank N A NY acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Mather Group LLC. lifted its position in 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 position in Woodward during the fourth quarter worth $57,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Woodward by 52.0% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 374 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Woodward news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,278,157. This trade represents a 20.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 3,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.36, for a total value of $641,388.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 15,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,008,109.72. This trade represents a 17.57 % 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 Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ:WWD opened at $169.17 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.89. Woodward, Inc. has a 1 year low of $145.98 and a 1 year high of $201.64. The stock has a market cap of $10.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.12. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $179.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.91.

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, topping 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.45 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 20th. This is an increase from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.76%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “reduce” rating on shares of Woodward in a research report on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $187.00 price target on Woodward and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Woodward from $229.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $193.75.

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.