Woodward, Inc. $WWD Shares Sold by Royal Bank of Canada

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada reduced its stake in Woodward, Inc. by 17.3%, selling 12,052 shares during the first quarter, resulting in ownership of 57,761 shares valued at approximately $10.5 million.
• Insider selling activity included Director John D. Cohn selling 1,750 shares for $427,560 and EVP Randall Hobbs selling 846 shares for $211,500, indicating a decrease in their ownership stakes.
• Woodward's quarterly earnings exceeded analysts' expectations, with a reported EPS of $1.76 and revenue up 8.0% year-over-year, leading to various upgrades and ratings from investment analysts.

Royal Bank of Canada lowered its stake in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) by 17.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 57,761 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 12,052 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 0.10% of Woodward worth $10,541,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Focus Partners Wealth purchased a new stake in Woodward during the 4th quarter valued at about $294,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Woodward by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 7,649 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,396,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Woodward by 13.3% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,580 shares of the technology company's stock worth $653,000 after buying an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward during the 1st quarter worth approximately $294,000. Finally, Tribune Investment Group LP acquired a new position in shares of Woodward in the 1st quarter worth approximately $8,577,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,750 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $244.32, for a total transaction of $427,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 20,963 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,121,680.16. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Randall Hobbs sold 846 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $211,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 48,981 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,245,250. This trade represents a 1.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 3,096 shares of company stock valued at $759,060. Company insiders own 0.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. 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. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Woodward to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Woodward from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Woodward from $283.00 to $299.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors upgraded shares of Woodward from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $281.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $253.11.

Woodward Stock Up 0.5%

WWD stock opened at $239.98 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $14.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.27. Woodward, Inc. has a 52 week low of $146.82 and a 52 week high of $267.45. The company's 50-day moving average price is $250.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $217.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 28th. The technology company reported $1.76 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 firm had revenue of $915.45 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $884.98 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.63 earnings per share. The firm's 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 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st were given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 21st. Woodward's 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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