Northern Trust Corp Increases Stake in Woodward, Inc. $WWD

Key Points

• Northern Trust Corp has increased its stake in Woodward, Inc. by 1.5% during the first quarter, acquiring an additional 9,386 shares, bringing their total ownership to 637,888 shares valued at approximately $116.4 million.
• Insider trading activity includes EVP Terence J. Voskuil selling 10,000 shares and CEO Charles P. Blankenship selling 5,000 shares, reflecting a significant decrease in their stock ownership.
• Woodward, Inc. is projecting 6.5 to 6.75 EPS for FY 2025 and recently reported a revenue increase of 8.0% year-over-year, hitting $915.45 million in the latest quarter.

Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) by 1.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 637,888 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 9,386 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned about 1.07% of Woodward worth $116,408,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Guggenheim Capital LLC lifted its position in Woodward by 38.2% in the 4th quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 1,959 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $326,000 after acquiring an additional 542 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in shares of Woodward in the fourth quarter worth $416,000. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 14,029 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,335,000 after purchasing an additional 2,142 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in Woodward by 2,346.8% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 37,779 shares of the technology company's stock worth $6,308,000 after buying an additional 36,235 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Woodward in the 4th quarter worth about $549,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% of the company's stock.

Woodward Stock Performance

Shares of WWD stock traded down $0.41 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $249.23. 215,478 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 518,219. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $14.95 billion, a PE ratio of 39.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.30. Woodward, Inc. has a 12 month low of $146.82 and a 12 month high of $267.45. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $250.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $212.93.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last released its 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 for 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 quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.63 earnings per share. Woodward has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.500-6.750 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Woodward's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.72%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WWD has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Northcoast Research raised shares of Woodward to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Woodward from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $291.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $245.00 target price (up previously from $225.00) on shares of Woodward in a report on Friday, May 23rd. 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. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on Woodward from $267.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $253.11.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In other Woodward news, CEO Charles P. Blankenship sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.41, for a total value of $1,142,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 67,189 shares in the company, valued at $15,346,639.49. This represents a 6.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through 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 transaction of $2,310,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 4,945 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,142,443.35. This trade represents a 66.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,296 shares of company stock valued at $4,464,433 over the last 90 days. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Woodward Company Profile

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.