Neo Ivy Capital Management Acquires New Shares in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Key Points

• Neo Ivy Capital Management has acquired 3,108 shares of Woodward, Inc., valued at approximately $567,000, in the first quarter.
• Woodward's stock has seen recent upgrades, with Goldman Sachs raising the target price from $229 to $255 and multiple brokerages assigning a "buy" rating.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.28 per share, with an annualized yield of 0.44%, set to be paid on September 4th.

Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,108 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $567,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in Woodward by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 4,503 shares of the technology company's stock worth $749,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 27,449 shares of the technology company's stock worth $4,568,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,130,000. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Woodward by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 36,692 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $6,600,000 after buying an additional 2,809 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Woodward by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,040,384 shares of the technology company's stock worth $173,141,000 after buying an additional 48,195 shares during the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Randall Hobbs sold 846 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 48,981 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,245,250. This trade represents a 1.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Terence J. Voskuil sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.03, for a total value of $2,310,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 4,945 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,142,443.35. This represents a 66.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 42,096 shares of company stock worth $9,247,289. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on WWD. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Woodward from $267.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Woodward from $283.00 to $299.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Woodward from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Woodward from $175.00 to $193.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $245.00 price target (up from $225.00) on shares of Woodward in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $242.13.

Woodward Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of WWD traded up $3.81 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $265.92. 111,151 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 520,533. Woodward, Inc. has a 12 month low of $145.98 and a 12 month high of $267.45. The company has a market capitalization of $15.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.26. The company's fifty day moving average price is $238.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $203.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last released 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. The company had revenue of $915.45 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $884.98 million. Woodward had a return on equity of 17.00% and a net margin of 11.32%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.63 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Woodward's payout ratio is currently 18.09%.

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.