Bank of America Corp DE Reduces Position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Bank of America Corp DE lessened its position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 853,751 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 37,868 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE owned about 1.44% of Woodward worth $142,081,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WWD. Earnest Partners LLC increased its holdings in Woodward by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,418,123 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $236,004,000 after buying an additional 38,774 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Woodward by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,302,237 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $216,771,000 after buying an additional 23,735 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Woodward by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,040,384 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $173,141,000 after buying an additional 48,195 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Woodward in the fourth quarter worth $120,220,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of Woodward by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 649,961 shares of the technology company's stock worth $108,166,000 after purchasing an additional 36,911 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.18% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,800 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.52, for a total value of $536,256.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,965 shares in the company, valued at $4,015,216.80. The trade was a 11.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 3,300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.36, for a total transaction of $641,388.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,477 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,008,109.72. This represents a 17.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 30,700 shares of company stock worth $5,751,700 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.82% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Woodward Stock Up 2.5%

NASDAQ WWD traded up $4.98 during trading on Monday, reaching $201.47. 474,014 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 461,683. 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 firm has a market cap of $11.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.24. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $179.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $179.56. Woodward, Inc. has a 12-month low of $145.98 and a 12-month high of $203.13.

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

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 22nd. Woodward's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.09%.

Woodward 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.