Maven Securities LTD Makes New $518,000 Investment in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Maven Securities LTD bought a new position in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 3,021 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $518,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WWD. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 66.9% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 2,548 shares of the technology company's stock worth $393,000 after acquiring an additional 1,021 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Woodward in the 1st quarter valued at $229,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Woodward by 82.8% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 660 shares of the technology company's stock worth $115,000 after buying an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Woodward by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 3,277 shares of the technology company's stock worth $571,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its stake in Woodward by 2.8% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 12,349 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,153,000 after buying an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on WWD shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Woodward from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. TD Cowen reissued a "hold" rating and set a $160.00 price target (down from $186.00) on shares of Woodward in a research note on Friday, October 4th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Woodward from $209.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Woodward from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $187.44.

Woodward Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ WWD traded down $2.52 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $181.32. The stock had a trading volume of 378,072 shares, compared to its average volume of 434,596. The company's 50 day moving average price is $170.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $171.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.89. Woodward, Inc. has a twelve month low of $131.12 and a twelve month high of $201.64. The firm has a market cap of $10.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.38.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 25th. The technology company reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.19. Woodward had a return on equity of 17.13% and a net margin of 11.22%. The company had revenue of $855.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $810.39 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.33 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Woodward, Inc. will post 5.98 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Woodward's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.64%.

Insider Activity

In other Woodward news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.50, for a total value of $1,745,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,511 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,008,669.50. This represents a 46.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total value of $430,968.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 20,963 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,764,325.91. This represents a 10.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 50,313 shares of company stock worth $8,933,572 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.12% of the company's stock.

Woodward 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.