Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Shares Sold by SG Americas Securities LLC

SG Americas Securities LLC decreased its position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) by 91.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,033 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 22,363 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC's holdings in Woodward were worth $277,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WWD. Red Spruce Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Woodward by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Red Spruce Capital LLC now owns 17,917 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,226,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC increased its stake in Woodward by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,393 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $670,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in Woodward by 2.6% in the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 4,201 shares of the technology company's stock worth $500,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Woodward by 2.0% during the first quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 5,702 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $555,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its stake in Woodward by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 26,791 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,329,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on WWD shares. UBS Group upped their price target on Woodward from $168.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Alembic Global Advisors cut shares of Woodward from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $148.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Woodward from $134.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Woodward from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Woodward from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. 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 data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $152.89.

Woodward Price Performance

NASDAQ:WWD traded down $2.66 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $149.93. The stock had a trading volume of 366,739 shares, compared to its average volume of 365,208. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.04 billion, a PE ratio of 32.19, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $144.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $136.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.65. Woodward, Inc. has a 52 week low of $91.42 and a 52 week high of $160.79.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The technology company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.33. Woodward had a net margin of 9.50% and a return on equity of 15.26%. The company had revenue of $786.73 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $750.13 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.49 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 27.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Woodward, Inc. will post 5.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a positive change from Woodward's previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. Woodward's payout ratio is currently 21.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In other Woodward news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 38,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.98, for a total transaction of $5,494,626.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,680,049.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 38,700 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.98, for a total value of $5,494,626.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,833 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,680,049.34. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.86, for a total value of $208,290.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,850,934.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 51,200 shares of company stock valued at $7,242,916 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.12% of the company's stock.

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.