Cetera Investment Advisers Raises Stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) by 33.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,700 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,178 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers' holdings in Woodward were worth $858,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Woodward by 13.1% during the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 3,190 shares of the technology company's stock worth $582,000 after buying an additional 369 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS grew its holdings in shares of Woodward by 1.6% during the first quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 13,000 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,372,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of Woodward during the first quarter worth $1,438,000. IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in shares of Woodward by 1,040.3% during the first quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 707 shares of the technology company's stock worth $129,000 after buying an additional 645 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balentine LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Woodward in the first quarter valued at about $219,000. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WWD has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $245.00 price objective (up previously from $225.00) on shares of Woodward in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Northcoast Research raised shares of Woodward to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Woodward from $229.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Woodward from $200.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Woodward presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $249.63.

Insider Transactions at Woodward

In other news, EVP Terence J. Voskuil sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.03, for a total transaction of $2,310,300.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 4,945 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,142,443.35. This represents a 66.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Randall Hobbs sold 846 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $211,500.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 48,981 shares in the company, valued at $12,245,250. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 39,296 shares of company stock valued at $8,711,033. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Woodward Trading Down 0.0%

NASDAQ WWD traded down $0.02 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $245.31. The company had a trading volume of 660,475 shares, compared to its average volume of 573,160. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $248.33 and a 200 day moving average of $209.84. Woodward, Inc. has a 1-year low of $146.82 and a 1-year high of $267.45. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.30.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The technology company reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.14. Woodward had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 16.57%. The company had revenue of $915.45 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $884.98 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.63 earnings per share. Woodward's revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Woodward's dividend payout ratio is currently 17.72%.

Woodward Company 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.