YHB Investment Advisors Inc. Sells 39,272 Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

YHB Investment Advisors Inc. lessened its stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) by 56.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,306 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 39,272 shares during the quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. owned 0.05% of Woodward worth $4,126,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WWD. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Woodward during the third quarter worth $4,911,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Woodward by 1.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,721,250 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $710,923,000 after purchasing an additional 59,884 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Woodward by 6.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 998,396 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $124,061,000 after purchasing an additional 61,216 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in shares of Woodward by 12.0% in the third quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 381,273 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $47,377,000 after purchasing an additional 40,957 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Woodward by 95.3% in the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 13,059 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,621,000 after purchasing an additional 6,374 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Woodward from $136.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Alembic Global Advisors downgraded shares of Woodward from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $148.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Barclays raised their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Woodward from a "sell" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $105.00 to $153.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Woodward from $168.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $152.89.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In other Woodward news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.86, for a total transaction of $208,290.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 20,531 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,850,934.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 38,700 shares of Woodward 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 11,833 shares in the company, valued at $1,680,049.34. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.86, for a total value of $208,290.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,850,934.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 51,200 shares of company stock worth $7,242,916. 1.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Woodward Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WWD traded down $2.54 on Friday, hitting $146.53. 578,995 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 435,448. The firm's 50-day moving average is $145.53 and its 200 day moving average is $136.93. The company has a market capitalization of $8.84 billion, a PE ratio of 30.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.36. Woodward, Inc. has a 1-year low of $91.42 and a 1-year high of $160.79. 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 (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 29th. The technology company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $786.73 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $750.13 million. Woodward had a return on equity of 15.26% and a net margin of 9.50%. The firm's revenue was up 27.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.49 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Woodward, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. This is a boost from Woodward's previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Woodward's dividend payout ratio is 21.10%.

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.