Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Position Reduced by Farther Finance Advisors LLC

Farther Finance Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) by 23.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,321 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 1,598 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC's holdings in Woodward were worth $996,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 191.2% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 166 shares of the technology company's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 2,314.3% during the first quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 169 shares of the technology company's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. NBT Bank N A NY acquired a new position in shares of Woodward during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Woodward during the fourth quarter worth $61,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 94.2% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 371 shares of the technology company's stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on WWD shares. Truist Financial set a $267.00 target price on shares of Woodward and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. 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 research note on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Woodward from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $245.00 price objective (up previously from $225.00) on shares of Woodward in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Woodward from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $291.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $222.13.

Woodward Price Performance

WWD traded up $2.88 on Monday, hitting $234.94. 406,628 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 474,971. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.89. The business's fifty day moving average is $200.60 and its 200 day moving average is $187.92. Woodward, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $145.98 and a fifty-two week high of $238.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.24.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The technology company reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $883.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $838.61 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.62 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd were given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Woodward's dividend payout ratio is presently 18.09%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.52, for a total transaction of $536,256.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 20,965 shares in the company, valued at $4,015,216.80. This represents a 11.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.49, for a total value of $1,864,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,477 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,886,305.73. The trade was a 39.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 64,050 shares of company stock worth $13,267,077 over the last ninety days. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.