Park Avenue Securities LLC Has $628,000 Stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Park Avenue Securities LLC trimmed its position in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) by 35.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,442 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 1,857 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC's holdings in Woodward were worth $628,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WWD. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 20.8% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 401 shares of the technology company's stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC raised its holdings in Woodward by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 1,324 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $220,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Woodward by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 1,501 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $274,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Woodward by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,850 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $308,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in Woodward by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 16,600 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,763,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on WWD shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Woodward from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Woodward from $232.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Woodward from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $291.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Woodward from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $222.13.

Insider Activity at Woodward

In related news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,800 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.52, for a total transaction of $536,256.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,015,216.80. This trade represents a 11.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.49, for a total value of $1,864,900.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 15,477 shares in the company, valued at $2,886,305.73. The trade was a 39.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 64,050 shares of company stock valued at $13,267,077. 0.82% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Woodward Stock Performance

NASDAQ WWD opened at $232.06 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $199.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $187.42. Woodward, Inc. has a 12-month low of $145.98 and a 12-month high of $236.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The company has a market cap of $13.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.87, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.24.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The technology company reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.25. Woodward had a net margin of 11.18% and a return on equity of 16.76%. The business had revenue of $883.63 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $838.61 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.62 EPS. Woodward's revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 22nd were given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 22nd. Woodward's payout ratio is currently 18.09%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.