Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT Invests $20.05 Million in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT purchased a new stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 120,446 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $20,045,000. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT owned 0.20% of Woodward as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WWD. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Woodward by 4.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,421,483 shares of the technology company's stock worth $415,309,000 after acquiring an additional 110,569 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Woodward by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,278,502 shares of the technology company's stock worth $219,321,000 after purchasing an additional 59,290 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Woodward by 135.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 992,189 shares of the technology company's stock worth $170,170,000 after purchasing an additional 570,124 shares during the period. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Woodward during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $99,000,000. Finally, Alpha Wave Global LP lifted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 26.0% in the 3rd quarter. Alpha Wave Global LP now owns 311,253 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $53,383,000 after buying an additional 64,212 shares during the period. 81.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on WWD shares. Barclays upped their price objective on Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com lowered Woodward from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $197.38.

Woodward Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WWD traded down $0.21 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $182.85. The company had a trading volume of 326,050 shares, compared to its average volume of 460,587. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Woodward, Inc. has a twelve month low of $136.25 and a twelve month high of $201.64. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $182.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $172.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.85 billion, a PE ratio of 30.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.40.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.21. Woodward had a return on equity of 16.76% and a net margin of 11.18%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.45 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. This is a boost from Woodward's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Woodward's payout ratio is presently 18.76%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Woodward news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.85, for a total value of $1,818,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 11,511 shares in the company, valued at $2,093,275.35. The trade was a 46.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total transaction of $430,968.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 20,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,764,325.91. The trade was a 10.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 32,400 shares of company stock valued at $5,844,768. Company insiders own 0.82% of the company's stock.

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.