Amalgamated Bank Increases Stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Amalgamated Bank raised its position in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 29,001 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 566 shares during the quarter. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Woodward were worth $4,826,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of WWD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Woodward by 135.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 992,189 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $170,170,000 after acquiring an additional 570,124 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of Woodward in the 3rd quarter worth $2,547,000. PEAK6 Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Woodward in the third quarter worth $2,448,000. Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 12.1% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 64,153 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $11,003,000 after purchasing an additional 6,917 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ingalls & Snyder LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Woodward during the third quarter valued at $1,698,000. 81.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on WWD. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Truist Financial lifted 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 boosted their target price on shares of Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Woodward has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $197.38.

Woodward Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Woodward stock opened at $184.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.96 billion, a PE ratio of 30.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.40. Woodward, Inc. has a 1-year low of $136.25 and a 1-year high of $201.64. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $182.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.29.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.45 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. This is a positive change from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.76%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Woodward news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.85, for a total transaction of $1,818,500.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,093,275.35. This trade represents a 46.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total value of $430,968.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,764,325.91. This trade represents a 10.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 22,400 shares of company stock worth $4,044,868. Company insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

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.