Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Has $2.66 Million Stock Holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lessened its stake in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 19,512 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Woodward were worth $2,656,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Woodward in the 3rd quarter worth about $4,911,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP raised its stake in Woodward by 214.0% in the 4th quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 20,654 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,812,000 after purchasing an additional 14,077 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Woodward by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,721,250 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $710,923,000 after purchasing an additional 59,884 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia acquired a new stake in Woodward in the 4th quarter worth about $1,416,000. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in Woodward by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 998,396 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $124,061,000 after purchasing an additional 61,216 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Woodward news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.01, for a total transaction of $1,002,060.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,914,324.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.12% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Woodward stock opened at $185.51 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.30 billion, a PE ratio of 32.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $171.90 and its 200 day moving average is $151.77. Woodward, Inc. has a 1 year low of $113.16 and a 1 year high of $188.35.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The technology company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.34. The company had revenue of $835.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $807.04 million. Woodward had a net margin of 11.09% and a return on equity of 16.50%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.01 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Woodward, Inc. will post 5.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 21st. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.48%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Woodward from $156.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Woodward from $140.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Woodward from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Woodward from $159.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Woodward currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.38.

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.