Swiss National Bank Sells 1,700 Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Swiss National Bank lowered its position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 117,300 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,700 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.20% of Woodward worth $19,521,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WWD. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in shares of Woodward in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Woodward during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. NBT Bank N A NY acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Mather Group LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 44.8% in the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 278 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Woodward during the fourth quarter worth about $57,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on WWD shares. UBS Group lifted 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. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com raised Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $197.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In related news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total value of $864,156.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,450 shares in the company, valued at $3,278,157. The trade was a 20.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WWD opened at $184.74 on Wednesday. Woodward, Inc. has a twelve month low of $144.45 and a twelve month high of $201.64. The company has a market cap of $10.97 billion, a PE ratio of 30.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.39. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $185.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $175.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.45 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is an increase from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. Woodward’s payout ratio is presently 18.76%.

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.