Woodward, Inc. $WWD Shares Sold by Invesco Ltd.

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. has reduced its stake in Woodward, Inc. by 5.8% during the first quarter, selling 23,277 shares, and now owns 380,426 shares valued at $69.4 million.
• Multiple institutional investors increased their positions in Woodward during the same quarter, with MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust growing its stake by 191.2%.
• Woodward recently reported earnings of $1.76 per share, surpassing analyst expectations, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.28 per share to be paid on September 4th.

Invesco Ltd. lessened its position in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) by 5.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 380,426 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 23,277 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned about 0.64% of Woodward worth $69,424,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WWD. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in shares of Woodward by 191.2% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 166 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the period. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. raised its position in shares of Woodward by 2,314.3% during the 1st quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 169 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Woodward by 189.8% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 171 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the period. TCTC Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Woodward by 116.7% during the 1st quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 182 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the period. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Woodward by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. Berbice Capital Management LLC now owns 300 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on WWD. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Woodward from $267.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target 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. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $245.00 target price (up previously from $225.00) on shares of Woodward in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Alembic Global Advisors raised Woodward from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $281.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Woodward from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Woodward currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $253.11.

Woodward Trading Up 0.6%

NASDAQ WWD traded up $1.59 on Thursday, reaching $247.84. The stock had a trading volume of 417,378 shares, compared to its average volume of 580,868. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Woodward, Inc. has a 12-month low of $146.82 and a 12-month high of $267.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $249.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $211.33.

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

Woodward Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Woodward news, EVP Randall Hobbs sold 846 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $211,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 48,981 shares in the company, valued at $12,245,250. The trade was a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles P. Blankenship sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.98, for a total transaction of $1,079,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 73,117 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,791,809.66. This trade represents a 6.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 29,296 shares of company stock worth $6,611,283 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.82% of the company's stock.

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.