MetLife Investment Management LLC Has $5.60 Million Stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) by 9.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,617 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 2,774 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC owned 0.06% of Woodward worth $5,595,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WWD. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Woodward by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,302,237 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $216,771,000 after buying an additional 23,735 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Woodward in the 4th quarter worth approximately $120,220,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of Woodward by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 649,961 shares of the technology company's stock worth $108,166,000 after acquiring an additional 36,911 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings 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 worth $83,872,000 after purchasing an additional 3,099 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a "reduce" rating on shares of Woodward in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Woodward from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Woodward from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Woodward from $229.00 to $205.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $187.00 price objective on Woodward and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Woodward currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $192.25.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total transaction of $864,156.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 17,450 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,278,157. This trade represents a 20.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.50, for a total value of $1,845,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,855,506.50. This represents a 39.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 27,900 shares of company stock valued at $5,215,444. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Woodward Price Performance

Woodward stock traded up $4.23 on Tuesday, reaching $185.68. The company's stock had a trading volume of 365,274 shares, compared to its average volume of 469,809. The business's fifty day moving average price is $178.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $177.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.89. The company has a market cap of $11.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.98, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.12. Woodward, Inc. has a twelve month low of $145.98 and a twelve month 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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.25. Woodward had a net margin of 11.18% and a return on equity of 16.76%. The firm had revenue of $883.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $838.61 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.62 EPS. The company's revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 22nd. Woodward's dividend payout ratio is 18.76%.

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.