GAMMA Investing LLC Increases Stock Position in Woodward, Inc. $WWD

Key Points

• GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stock position in Woodward, Inc. by 220.2%, holding a total of 8,287 shares valued at over $2 million at the end of the last quarter.
• Woodward received several analyst upgrades, with a consensus price target now at $253.11 and a rating of "Moderate Buy."
• The company will pay a quarterly dividend of $0.28 per share, with the record date set for November 20th, representing a yield of 0.5%.

GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) by 220.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,287 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 5,699 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC's holdings in Woodward were worth $2,031,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Woodward by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 7,649 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,396,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in Woodward by 13.3% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,580 shares of the technology company's stock worth $653,000 after acquiring an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in Woodward in the 1st quarter worth approximately $294,000. Tribune Investment Group LP purchased a new stake in Woodward during the 1st quarter valued at $8,577,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in Woodward by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 165,286 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $30,163,000 after buying an additional 1,146 shares during the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WWD has been the subject of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Woodward from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $291.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Woodward from $267.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded shares of Woodward from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $281.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Woodward to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Woodward from $200.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $253.11.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Randall Hobbs sold 846 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $211,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 48,981 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,245,250. This trade represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,750 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $244.32, for a total transaction of $427,560.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 20,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,121,680.16. This trade represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.82% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Woodward Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of Woodward stock opened at $240.56 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $248.73 and a 200 day moving average of $220.33. Woodward, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $146.82 and a fifty-two week high of $267.45. The company has a market capitalization of $14.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 2.04.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 28th. The technology company reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.14. Woodward had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 16.57%. The business had revenue of $915.45 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $884.98 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.63 EPS. The business's revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. Woodward has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.500-6.750 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued 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, November 20th. Woodward's dividend payout ratio is 17.72%.

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.

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