Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Buys Shares of 6,786 Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in 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 bought 6,786 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $924,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $4,911,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Woodward by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,721,250 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $710,923,000 after acquiring an additional 59,884 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Woodward by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 998,396 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $124,061,000 after acquiring an additional 61,216 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in shares of Woodward by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 381,273 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $47,377,000 after acquiring 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 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 13,059 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,621,000 after acquiring an additional 6,374 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.18% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Woodward from $165.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of Woodward from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target 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. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Woodward from $134.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Woodward from $168.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $158.22.

Insider Transactions at Woodward

In other news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 38,700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 11,833 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,680,049.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Woodward news, EVP Christopher Fawzy sold 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $1,540,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,836 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $677,040. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 38,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,833 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,680,049.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 51,200 shares of company stock valued at $7,242,916. 1.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Woodward Stock Performance

WWD stock traded down $1.62 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $147.27. 333,556 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 370,102. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.65 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $145.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $137.24. Woodward, Inc. has a one year low of $91.42 and a one year high of $160.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.36.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 29th. The technology company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $786.73 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $750.13 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.49 earnings per share. Woodward's revenue was up 27.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. This is a boost from Woodward's previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Woodward's dividend payout ratio is 21.10%.

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.