Woodward, Inc. $WWD Shares Bought by Vest Financial LLC

Key Points

• Vest Financial LLC increased its stake in Woodward, Inc. by 24.9% during the 2nd quarter, owning 22,847 shares valued at approximately $5.6 million.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Woodward, with Barclays setting a new objective of $260 and Goldman Sachs increasing theirs to $255, while the consensus price target is $268.67.
• Woodward plans to pay a quarterly dividend of $0.28 on December 4th, reflecting an annualized dividend yield of 0.4%.

Vest Financial LLC raised its position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) by 24.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 22,847 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 4,558 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC's holdings in Woodward were worth $5,600,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WWD. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Woodward in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,667,000. Senator Investment Group LP acquired a new position in shares of Woodward in the 1st quarter worth approximately $22,355,000. Eisler Capital Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 164.5% in the 1st quarter. Eisler Capital Management Ltd. now owns 178,139 shares of the technology company's stock worth $32,503,000 after acquiring an additional 110,799 shares during the last quarter. Kodai Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Woodward in the 1st quarter worth approximately $13,055,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,092,257 shares of the technology company's stock worth $199,326,000 after acquiring an additional 51,873 shares during the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WWD has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Woodward from $200.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Woodward from $229.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Woodward in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Woodward from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, September 13th. Finally, Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Woodward to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $268.67.

Insider Activity at Woodward

In other Woodward news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $244.32, for a total value of $427,560.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 20,963 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,121,680.16. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.82% of the company's stock.

Woodward Price Performance

Woodward stock opened at $253.51 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $15.20 billion, a PE ratio of 40.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.26. Woodward, Inc. has a 52-week low of $146.82 and a 52-week high of $267.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company's 50 day moving average is $246.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $227.28.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The technology company reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $884.98 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.63 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue 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 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Woodward's dividend payout ratio is currently 17.72%.

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.

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