AdvisorShares Investments LLC Makes New Investment in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

AdvisorShares Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,790 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $464,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Woodward during the fourth quarter valued at $120,220,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Woodward by 135.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 992,189 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $170,170,000 after buying an additional 570,124 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Woodward during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,187,000. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Woodward by 313.6% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 174,476 shares of the technology company's stock worth $29,037,000 after acquiring an additional 132,287 shares during the period. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward in the 4th quarter worth approximately $21,967,000. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Woodward

In other news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.50, for a total transaction of $1,845,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,477 shares in the company, valued at $2,855,506.50. The trade was a 39.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.52, for a total value of $536,256.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 20,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,015,216.80. This represents a 11.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 30,700 shares of company stock valued at $5,751,700. Company insiders own 0.82% of the company's stock.

Woodward Trading Up 0.7 %

WWD stock traded up $1.33 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $195.25. 139,873 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 465,293. Woodward, Inc. has a 52-week low of $145.98 and a 52-week high of $201.64. The stock's fifty day moving average is $178.46 and its 200-day moving average is $178.20. The company has a market cap of $11.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The technology company reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.25. Woodward had a net margin of 11.18% and a return on equity of 16.76%. The business had revenue of $883.63 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $838.61 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.62 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. Woodward's dividend payout ratio is 18.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WWD has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $193.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Woodward from $205.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. UBS Group raised their target price on Woodward from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $187.00 target price on Woodward and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Woodward from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $195.00.

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.