Farringdon Capital Ltd. Acquires Shares of 3,616 Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Farringdon Capital Ltd. purchased a new position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 3,616 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $602,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Woodward during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. NBT Bank N A NY purchased a new stake in shares of Woodward during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Mather Group LLC. raised its position in Woodward by 44.8% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 278 shares of the technology company's stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Woodward during the 4th quarter valued at about $57,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 52.0% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 374 shares of the technology company's stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WWD has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $187.00 target price on shares of Woodward and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a "reduce" rating on shares of Woodward in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Woodward from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Woodward from $229.00 to $205.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $193.75.

Insider Transactions at Woodward

In other news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 3,300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.36, for a total value of $641,388.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 15,477 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,008,109.72. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total value of $864,156.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 17,450 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,278,157. This trade represents a 20.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 27,900 shares of company stock valued at $5,215,444. Corporate insiders own 0.82% of the company's stock.

Woodward Trading Up 4.2 %

WWD traded up $7.01 on Wednesday, reaching $174.82. 155,191 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 467,690. The company has a market cap of $10.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.12. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $178.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.94. Woodward, Inc. has a one year low of $145.98 and a one year high of $201.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

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

Woodward Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 20th. This is a boost from Woodward's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Woodward's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.76%.

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.