Thomas G. Cromwell Sells 10,000 Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Stock

Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.99, for a total transaction of $1,799,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 11,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,071,864.89. This trade represents a 46.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Woodward Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of Woodward stock opened at $181.17 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $10.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.14, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.38. Woodward, Inc. has a 1 year low of $131.12 and a 1 year high of $201.64. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $169.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $170.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 25th. The technology company reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.19. Woodward had a net margin of 11.22% and a return on equity of 17.13%. The company had revenue of $855.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $810.39 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.33 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Woodward, Inc. will post 5.97 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Woodward’s payout ratio is presently 16.64%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of WWD. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. bought a new position in Woodward during the third quarter worth about $99,000,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Woodward by 94.2% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 434,385 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $75,735,000 after buying an additional 210,746 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Woodward by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,421,483 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $415,309,000 after buying an additional 110,569 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Woodward by 17,072.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 76,760 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $13,165,000 after buying an additional 76,313 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its position in Woodward by 13.3% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 634,698 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $110,679,000 after acquiring an additional 74,734 shares during the period. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Woodward from $209.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com raised Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and issued a $160.00 target price (down from $186.00) on shares of Woodward in a report on Friday, October 4th. Barclays increased their price target on Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $226.00 price target (up previously from $187.00) on shares of Woodward in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $187.44.

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.