Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Trims Position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL cut its stake in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 76,045 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 1,500 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL owned about 0.13% of Woodward worth $12,655,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter valued at about $120,220,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Woodward by 135.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 992,189 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $170,170,000 after buying an additional 570,124 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Woodward in the 4th quarter worth $31,187,000. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Woodward by 313.6% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 174,476 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $29,037,000 after acquiring an additional 132,287 shares during the period. Finally, Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT purchased a new position in shares of Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at about $20,045,000. 81.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on WWD. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $187.00 price target on Woodward and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a "reduce" rating on shares of Woodward in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered Woodward from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. UBS Group lifted their target price on Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price target on Woodward from $229.00 to $205.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $193.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In other Woodward news, 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 transaction of $864,156.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,450 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,278,157. This represents a 20.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.50, for a total value of $1,845,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,477 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,855,506.50. The trade was a 39.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,900 shares of company stock valued at $5,215,444 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.82% of the company's stock.

Woodward Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ:WWD traded down $0.41 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $169.17. 429,055 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 468,309. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Woodward, Inc. has a 12-month low of $145.98 and a 12-month high of $201.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.12. The firm's fifty day moving average is $179.84 and its 200-day moving average is $176.91.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 period last year, the company posted $1.45 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is a positive change from Woodward's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. Woodward's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.