Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Acquires 354 Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 8.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,788 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 354 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Woodward were worth $835,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Woodward during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 59.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 5,128 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $698,000 after buying an additional 1,906 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Woodward during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $84,157,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Woodward during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $181,000. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Woodward during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $84,000. 81.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on WWD. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $197.00 to $158.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Truist Financial raised shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $152.00 to $187.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Woodward from $200.00 to $186.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $170.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.11.

Woodward Stock Performance

Woodward stock opened at $164.42 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.96 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Woodward, Inc. has a 1-year low of $119.03 and a 1-year high of $188.35. The stock has a market cap of $9.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.37. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $165.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $165.77.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The technology company reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.11. Woodward had a net margin of 11.47% and a return on equity of 17.16%. The company had revenue of $847.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $853.29 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.37 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Woodward, Inc. will post 5.91 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 22nd. Woodward’s payout ratio is currently 17.48%.

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.