Mather Group LLC. Invests $34,000 in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 220 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,758,261 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $783,872,000 after acquiring an additional 37,011 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 6.3% during the third quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,062,665 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $132,047,000 after acquiring an additional 62,897 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 6.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 998,396 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $124,061,000 after acquiring an additional 61,216 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $84,157,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in Woodward by 37.6% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 524,683 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $71,425,000 after buying an additional 143,410 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Woodward

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

Woodward Trading Down 1.3 %

Woodward stock opened at $180.79 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Woodward, Inc. has a 12 month low of $113.36 and a 12 month high of $188.35. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $174.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $152.87. The firm has a market cap of $11.01 billion, a PE ratio of 31.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.37.

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

Woodward Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 21st. Woodward’s payout ratio is 17.48%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.