Cooke & Bieler LP Decreases Position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Cooke & Bieler LP lowered its position in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) by 14.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,164,267 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 191,063 shares during the quarter. Woodward makes up approximately 2.1% of Cooke & Bieler LP's holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Cooke & Bieler LP owned approximately 1.96% of Woodward worth $212,467,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in Woodward by 191.2% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 166 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its holdings in Woodward by 2,314.3% during the first quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 169 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the period. Berbice Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Woodward by 50.0% during the first quarter. Berbice Capital Management LLC now owns 300 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC bought a new position in Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $124,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Terence J. Voskuil sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 4,945 shares in the company, valued at $1,142,443.35. The trade was a 66.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles P. Blankenship sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.41, for a total value of $1,142,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 67,189 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,346,639.49. The trade was a 6.93% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 42,096 shares of company stock worth $9,247,289 over the last quarter. 0.82% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WWD. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $245.00 price objective (up previously from $225.00) on shares of Woodward in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Woodward from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Woodward from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $291.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Woodward from $229.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $232.25.

Woodward Stock Up 1.5%

NASDAQ WWD traded up $3.78 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $257.42. The company's stock had a trading volume of 565,578 shares, compared to its average volume of 491,471. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $231.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $199.17. Woodward, Inc. has a twelve month low of $145.98 and a twelve month high of $257.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.59, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.26.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The technology company reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $883.63 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $838.61 million. Woodward had a return on equity of 16.86% and a net margin of 11.36%. The business's revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.62 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 22nd. Woodward's payout ratio is presently 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.