Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC Invests $832,000 in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 5,000 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $832,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WWD. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter valued at $465,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Woodward by 105.2% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 5,299 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,717 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Woodward by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 10,286 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,712,000 after acquiring an additional 389 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter valued at $2,137,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Woodward by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 503,977 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $83,872,000 after acquiring an additional 3,099 shares during the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,800 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.52, for a total value of $536,256.00. Following the completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total transaction of $864,156.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,450 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,278,157. This represents a 20.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 30,700 shares of company stock valued at $5,751,700 over the last three months. 0.82% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Woodward Stock Performance

WWD stock traded up $2.20 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $215.73. 92,778 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 461,280. Woodward, Inc. has a twelve month low of $145.98 and a twelve month high of $216.96. The company has a market capitalization of $12.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $183.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $181.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The technology company reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.25. Woodward had a return on equity of 16.76% and a net margin of 11.18%. The business had revenue of $883.63 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $838.61 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.62 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 22nd. Woodward's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Woodward from $175.00 to $193.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group increased their target price on Woodward from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $187.00 target price on Woodward and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Woodward from $205.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Woodward from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a 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's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $195.00.

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.