Swiss National Bank Acquires 900 Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 0.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 123,500 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 900 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Woodward were worth $14,685,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WWD. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Woodward by 653.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,309,248 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $223,097,000 after purchasing an additional 2,002,572 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 15.4% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,749,193 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $718,131,000 after acquiring an additional 768,984 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 41.1% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,134,296 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $266,595,000 after acquiring an additional 621,559 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Woodward in the 4th quarter worth $23,812,000. Finally, Eaton Vance Management grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 63.4% in the 1st quarter. Eaton Vance Management now owns 580,570 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $72,519,000 after acquiring an additional 225,198 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.63% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In other Woodward news, VP Christopher Fawzy sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $650,000.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 4,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $648,570. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Rajeev Bhalla purchased 399 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $125.07 per share, with a total value of $49,902.93. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 1,779 shares in the company, valued at approximately $222,499.53. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Christopher Fawzy sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $650,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 4,989 shares in the company, valued at $648,570. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WWD has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Woodward from $128.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Woodward in a research note on Wednesday, September 27th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $152.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $124.00 target price on shares of Woodward in a research note on Monday. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Woodward in a report on Tuesday, October 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $152.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Woodward currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $135.33.

Woodward Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WWD opened at $130.42 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $127.48 and its 200 day moving average is $121.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 2.54. The company has a market capitalization of $7.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.44. Woodward, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $88.30 and a fifty-two week high of $136.70.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 16th. The technology company reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $777.07 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $763.40 million. Woodward had a net margin of 7.97% and a return on equity of 12.85%. The company’s revenue was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.84 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Woodward, Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 17th. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.34%.

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.