Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Shares Bought by Centiva Capital LP

Centiva Capital LP raised its stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) by 188.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,440 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 10,732 shares during the quarter. Centiva Capital LP's holdings in Woodward were worth $2,736,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. NBT Bank N A NY acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Mather Group LLC. boosted its position in Woodward by 44.8% during the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 278 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $57,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in Woodward by 94.2% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 371 shares of the technology company's stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WWD. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $187.00 price target on Woodward and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Woodward from $205.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Woodward from $175.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Woodward from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $195.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In other Woodward news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 17,450 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,278,157. This trade represents a 20.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.50, for a total transaction of $1,845,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,477 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,855,506.50. This trade represents a 39.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 30,700 shares of company stock worth $5,751,700. Insiders own 0.82% of the company's stock.

Woodward Trading Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ:WWD opened at $195.98 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.63 billion, a PE ratio of 32.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm's 50 day moving average is $178.70 and its 200 day moving average is $178.41. Woodward, Inc. has a 12 month low of $145.98 and a 12 month high of $201.64.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The technology company reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.25. Woodward had a net margin of 11.18% and a return on equity of 16.76%. The company had revenue of $883.63 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $838.61 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.62 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 22nd. Woodward's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.

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