Ameriprise Financial Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 63,992 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 2,233 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned about 0.11% of Woodward worth $10,650,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Woodward in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. NBT Bank N A NY bought a new position in shares of Woodward in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Mather Group LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Woodward by 44.8% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 278 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter valued at $57,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Woodward by 52.0% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 374 shares of the technology company's stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on WWD shares. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Woodward from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. 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 report on Wednesday, April 30th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Woodward from $205.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Woodward from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $187.00 price target on shares of Woodward and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Four 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 stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $201.88.

Woodward Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of WWD traded up $4.61 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $210.61. 456,037 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 464,542. Woodward, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $145.98 and a fifty-two week high of $216.95. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $185.41 and a 200-day moving average of $182.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.24.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The technology company reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $883.63 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $838.61 million. Woodward had a net margin of 11.18% and a return on equity of 16.76%. Woodward's revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.62 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. Woodward's payout ratio is currently 18.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In other Woodward news, CEO Charles P. Blankenship sold 5,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.38, for a total transaction of $1,071,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 72,878 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,623,585.64. The trade was a 6.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,800 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 20,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 quarter, insiders sold 40,700 shares of company stock valued at $7,851,450. Company insiders own 0.82% of the company's stock.

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.