Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Makes New Investment in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new position in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 132,000 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $21,967,000. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned 0.22% of Woodward at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Woodward by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,302,237 shares of the technology company's stock worth $216,771,000 after purchasing an additional 23,735 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Woodward by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,040,384 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $173,141,000 after acquiring an additional 48,195 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Woodward during the fourth quarter worth about $120,220,000. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in shares of Woodward by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 649,961 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $108,166,000 after acquiring an additional 36,911 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Woodward by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 503,977 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $83,872,000 after buying an additional 3,099 shares during the period. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Woodward from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group lifted their price target on Woodward from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Woodward from $175.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $187.00 price target on shares of Woodward and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Woodward from $205.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Woodward has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $195.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Woodward news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 3,300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.36, for a total transaction of $641,388.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,477 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,008,109.72. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 value of $536,256.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 20,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,015,216.80. This trade represents a 11.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Company insiders own 0.82% of the company's stock.

Woodward Stock Up 2.0 %

Woodward stock traded up $3.74 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $194.23. The company's stock had a trading volume of 196,152 shares, compared to its average volume of 465,169. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $178.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $177.82. The company has a market cap of $11.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Woodward, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $145.98 and a fifty-two week high of $201.64.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The technology company reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.25. Woodward had a return on equity of 16.76% and a net margin of 11.18%. The firm had revenue of $883.63 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $838.61 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.62 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. 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 0.58%. Woodward's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.