Mengis Capital Management Inc. Has $2.66 Million Stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Mengis Capital Management Inc. cut its position in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) by 20.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,000 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 4,000 shares during the quarter. Mengis Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Woodward were worth $2,663,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Woodward by 17,072.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 76,760 shares of the technology company's stock worth $13,165,000 after buying an additional 76,313 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Woodward by 20.3% during the third quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,871 shares of the technology company's stock worth $664,000 after acquiring an additional 653 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position in Woodward by 23.2% during the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 1,588 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $272,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Woodward by 100.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,869 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,207,000 after purchasing an additional 6,456 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its stake in shares of Woodward by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 6,933 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,189,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WWD has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com downgraded Woodward from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group increased their price objective on Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $197.38.

Woodward Price Performance

Shares of Woodward stock traded up $4.40 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $188.99. The company had a trading volume of 330,842 shares, compared to its average volume of 451,560. The company has a market capitalization of $11.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.40. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $182.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $173.29. Woodward, Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.43 and a 1-year high of $201.64.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the company posted $1.45 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.59%. This is an increase from Woodward's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Woodward's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.85, for a total transaction of $1,818,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,511 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,093,275.35. This represents a 46.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total transaction of $430,968.00. Following the sale, 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. Insiders have sold 22,400 shares of company stock valued at $4,044,868 in the last 90 days. 0.82% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.