Earnest Partners LLC Cuts Position in Woodward, Inc. $WWD

Key Points

• Earnest Partners LLC reduced its stake in Woodward, Inc. by 1.9%, now holding approximately 1.39 million shares, representing 1.2% of their investment portfolio.
• CEO Charles P. Blankenship and EVP Terence J. Voskuil both sold significant shares, with Blankenship decreasing his ownership by 6.40% and Voskuil by 66.91%.
• Woodward announced a quarterly dividend of $0.28 per share, with an annualized dividend yield of 0.4% and a payout ratio of 17.72%.

Earnest Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) by 1.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,390,773 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 27,350 shares during the quarter. Woodward comprises approximately 1.2% of Earnest Partners LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Earnest Partners LLC owned approximately 2.34% of Woodward worth $253,802,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Focus Partners Wealth acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $294,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 1.1% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 7,649 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,396,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 13.3% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,580 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $653,000 after acquiring an additional 420 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward in the first quarter valued at approximately $294,000. Finally, Tribune Investment Group LP acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward in the first quarter valued at approximately $8,577,000. 81.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WWD. Alembic Global Advisors raised Woodward from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $281.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Barclays increased their price objective on Woodward from $200.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Woodward from $267.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Zacks Research downgraded Woodward from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $245.00 price target (up previously from $225.00) on shares of Woodward in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $253.11.

Woodward Stock Performance

Shares of Woodward stock traded down $2.48 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $246.82. 428,916 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 464,680. Woodward, Inc. has a 1 year low of $146.82 and a 1 year high of $267.45. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The business has a 50-day moving average of $250.86 and a 200-day moving average of $214.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.27.

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

Woodward Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Woodward's dividend payout ratio is presently 17.72%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Woodward news, CEO Charles P. Blankenship sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 67,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,346,639.49. This represents a 6.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Randall Hobbs sold 846 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $211,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 48,981 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,245,250. The trade was a 1.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 19,296 shares of company stock worth $4,464,433. 0.82% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.