Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Director Gregg C. Sengstack Sells 4,600 Shares

Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) 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 in the company, valued at $3,278,157. This 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 can be accessed through the SEC website.

Woodward Trading Up 2.6 %

Woodward stock traded up $4.65 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $182.93. The stock had a trading volume of 185,494 shares, compared to its average volume of 444,754. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $183.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $174.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.86 billion, a PE ratio of 30.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.89. Woodward, Inc. has a twelve month low of $144.04 and a twelve month high of $201.64.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 in the prior year, the company posted $1.45 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Woodward

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WWD. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Woodward by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,421,483 shares of the technology company's stock worth $415,309,000 after buying an additional 110,569 shares in the last quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Woodward by 31.8% in the fourth quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,521,300 shares of the technology company's stock worth $253,175,000 after acquiring an additional 367,300 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Woodward by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,418,123 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $236,004,000 after purchasing an additional 38,774 shares during the last quarter. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. grew its stake in Woodward by 130.2% during the 4th quarter. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. now owns 1,328,765 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $221,133,000 after purchasing an additional 751,541 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Woodward by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,302,237 shares of the technology company's stock worth $216,771,000 after purchasing an additional 23,735 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com downgraded Woodward from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays raised 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. UBS Group upped their target price 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 increased their target price on Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $197.38.

About Woodward

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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