MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. Decreases Holdings in Woodward, Inc. $WWD

Key Points

• MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. has reduced its holdings in Woodward, Inc. by 4.6% during the first quarter, now owning 394,259 shares valued at approximately $71.9 million.
• Woodward's stock has received various ratings updates, including a downgrade from Zacks Research to a "hold" and upgrades from UBS Group and Alembic Global Advisors, indicating mixed analyst sentiment.
• The company reported earnings of $1.76 per share for the last quarter, exceeding expectations, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.28 per share, reflecting a 0.5% annual yield.

MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. decreased its position in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) by 4.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 394,259 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 18,961 shares during the quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. owned 0.66% of Woodward worth $71,949,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake 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 worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. boosted its stake 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 worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake 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 worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Woodward by 116.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Virtus Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Woodward in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WWD has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Zacks Research lowered Woodward from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. UBS Group upped their target price on Woodward from $283.00 to $299.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Wall Street Zen raised Woodward from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday. 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 note on Wednesday, August 20th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on Woodward from $267.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $253.11.

Woodward Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of WWD opened at $242.85 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $250.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $215.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 2.04. The company has a market capitalization of $14.56 billion, a PE ratio of 38.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.27. Woodward, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $146.82 and a fifty-two week high of $267.45.

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

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 21st. Woodward's dividend payout ratio is presently 17.72%.

Insider Activity at Woodward

In other news, EVP Randall Hobbs sold 846 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $211,500.00. Following the completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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.

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