Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Shares Bought by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,600 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Woodward were worth $2,763,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WWD. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward during the 3rd quarter worth about $99,000,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 135.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 992,189 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $170,170,000 after acquiring an additional 570,124 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 4.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,421,483 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $415,309,000 after acquiring an additional 110,569 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 17,072.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 76,760 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $13,165,000 after acquiring an additional 76,313 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alpha Wave Global LP boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 26.0% in the third quarter. Alpha Wave Global LP now owns 311,253 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $53,383,000 after acquiring an additional 64,212 shares during the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Woodward Trading Down 0.1 %

WWD opened at $190.73 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $180.79 and its 200-day moving average is $171.26. Woodward, Inc. has a 52-week low of $135.93 and a 52-week high of $201.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 11.18% and a return on equity of 16.76%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.45 EPS. Analysts expect that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.59%. This is a positive change from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on WWD. StockNews.com cut shares of Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $197.38.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total value of $430,968.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 20,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,764,325.91. The trade was a 10.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.54, for a total transaction of $1,795,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 11,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,066,684.94. This trade represents a 46.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 32,400 shares of company stock worth $5,844,768 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

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.