Diversified Trust Co Invests $698,000 in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Diversified Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 4,528 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $698,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WWD. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Woodward by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 29,326 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,633,000 after purchasing an additional 1,943 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its holdings in shares of Woodward by 0.5% during the third quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 26,791 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,329,000 after buying an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Woodward during the third quarter worth about $1,226,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Woodward in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $4,911,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Woodward by 1,179.6% in the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 7,703 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $957,000 after acquiring an additional 7,101 shares in the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Woodward Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of WWD stock opened at $172.38 on Wednesday. Woodward, Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.90 and a 52-week high of $188.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a current ratio of 2.62. The stock has a market cap of $10.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.14, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.37. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $177.30 and its 200-day moving average is $154.56.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Woodward had a return on equity of 16.50% and a net margin of 11.09%. The firm had revenue of $835.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $807.04 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.01 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Woodward, Inc. will post 5.88 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In other news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 17,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,914,324.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WWD has been the subject of several research reports. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Woodward from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Woodward from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Woodward from $159.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Barclays raised their price objective on Woodward from $140.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Woodward from $156.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a 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 MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.38.

Woodward 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.