Barclays PLC Has $7.24 Million Position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) by 51.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 42,189 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 14,326 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC owned about 0.07% of Woodward worth $7,236,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WWD. State Street Corp grew its holdings in 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. Maven Securities LTD acquired a new stake in Woodward during the 3rd quarter worth about $518,000. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Woodward in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $99,000,000. Ingalls & Snyder LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Woodward in the third quarter valued at $1,698,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Woodward by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 27,255 shares of the technology company's stock worth $4,673,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total transaction of $430,968.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,963 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,764,325.91. This trade represents a 10.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.50, for a total transaction of $1,745,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 60,313 shares of company stock valued at $10,752,072. Insiders own 1.12% of the company's stock.

Woodward Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WWD traded up $0.49 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $168.14. The company's stock had a trading volume of 330,120 shares, compared to its average volume of 431,916. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.89. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $171.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $170.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.98, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.38. Woodward, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $131.12 and a fifty-two week high of $201.64.

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

Woodward Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.59%. Woodward's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.64%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Woodward from $209.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. TD Cowen restated a "hold" rating and set a $160.00 price target (down previously from $186.00) on shares of Woodward in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $226.00 price objective (up previously from $187.00) on shares of Woodward in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Woodward from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $187.44.

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.