Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Shares Purchased by UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) by 19.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 164,140 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 26,249 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC owned approximately 0.28% of Woodward worth $27,316,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vident Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Woodward by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 3,116 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $519,000 after buying an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in shares of Woodward by 17.9% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 234,400 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $39,009,000 after purchasing an additional 35,600 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its stake in shares of Woodward by 29.2% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 210,214 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $34,984,000 after purchasing an additional 47,510 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Woodward by 19.0% in the 4th quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 3,259 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $542,000 after purchasing an additional 521 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Woodward by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 16,635 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,768,000 after purchasing an additional 673 shares during the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total value of $864,156.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,278,157. This trade represents a 20.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.50, for a total value of $1,845,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,477 shares in the company, valued at $2,855,506.50. This represents a 39.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,700 shares of company stock worth $9,998,300 in the last ninety days. 0.82% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WWD. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $245.00 price objective (up from $225.00) on shares of Woodward in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Truist Financial set a $232.00 price objective on Woodward in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. UBS Group raised their price objective on Woodward from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective 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, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $187.00 price objective on Woodward and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $204.75.

Woodward Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ WWD traded down $1.13 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $216.83. The company's stock had a trading volume of 590,419 shares, compared to its average volume of 464,040. 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 business's 50 day moving average is $188.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $183.55. Woodward, Inc. has a 12-month low of $145.98 and a 12-month high of $220.05. The firm has a market cap of $12.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.24.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The technology company reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $883.63 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $838.61 million. Woodward had a return on equity of 16.76% and a net margin of 11.18%. Woodward's quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.62 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. 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.