Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Shares Acquired by Two Sigma Advisers LP

Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) by 17.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 234,400 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 35,600 shares during the quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP owned about 0.39% of Woodward worth $39,009,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Two Sigma Investments LP grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 29.2% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 210,214 shares of the technology company's stock worth $34,984,000 after purchasing an additional 47,510 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in Woodward by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 3,259 shares of the technology company's stock worth $542,000 after purchasing an additional 521 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Woodward by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 16,635 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,768,000 after purchasing an additional 673 shares during the last quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Woodward during the fourth quarter worth $1,421,000. Finally, Quadcap Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Woodward during the fourth quarter worth $434,000. 81.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WWD. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Woodward from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $187.00 price objective on shares of Woodward and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Woodward from $205.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target 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, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Woodward from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Woodward presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $195.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In other news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.36, for a total transaction of $641,388.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,477 shares in the company, valued at $3,008,109.72. This represents a 17.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.52, for a total transaction of $536,256.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 20,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,015,216.80. The trade was a 11.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 30,700 shares of company stock worth $5,751,700. Corporate insiders own 0.82% of the company's stock.

Woodward Price Performance

NASDAQ:WWD opened at $213.53 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $12.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.24. 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's 50-day moving average is $183.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $181.11. Woodward, Inc. has a 12-month low of $145.98 and a 12-month high of $213.71.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The technology company reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $883.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $838.61 million. Woodward had a net margin of 11.18% and a return on equity of 16.76%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.62 EPS. Research analysts expect 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, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. Woodward's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.

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