122,500 Shares in Woodward, Inc. $WWD Bought by Senator Investment Group LP

Key Points

Error: Response status code does not indicate success: 429 (Too Many Requests).

Senator Investment Group LP purchased a new stake in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 122,500 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $22,355,000. Senator Investment Group LP owned about 0.21% of Woodward as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WWD. Farallon Capital Management LLC increased its position in Woodward by 31.8% in the 4th quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,521,300 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $253,175,000 after buying an additional 367,300 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Woodward by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,418,123 shares of the technology company's stock worth $236,004,000 after acquiring an additional 38,774 shares in the last quarter. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. grew its holdings in Woodward by 130.2% during the 4th quarter. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. now owns 1,328,765 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $221,133,000 after buying an additional 751,541 shares in the last quarter. Duquesne Family Office LLC lifted its stake in Woodward by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Duquesne Family Office LLC now owns 1,225,750 shares of the technology company's stock worth $203,989,000 after purchasing an additional 168,035 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Woodward by 5.0% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,092,257 shares of the technology company's stock worth $199,326,000 after purchasing an additional 51,873 shares during the period. 81.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Woodward news, EVP Terence J. Voskuil sold 10,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were 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 owned 4,945 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,142,443.35. The trade was a 66.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Randall Hobbs sold 846 shares of Woodward 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 48,981 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,245,250. This trade represents a 1.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 29,296 shares of company stock valued at $6,611,283. Company insiders own 0.82% of the company's stock.

Woodward Stock Up 0.1%

NASDAQ WWD traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $248.04. The stock had a trading volume of 382,045 shares, compared to its average volume of 522,565. Woodward, Inc. has a 1 year low of $146.82 and a 1 year high of $267.45. The stock has a market cap of $14.87 billion, a PE ratio of 39.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $249.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $211.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

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

Woodward Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on WWD. Zacks Research cut Woodward from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. 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 report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Woodward from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $291.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Woodward from $267.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Woodward from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Woodward currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $253.11.

Woodward 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.