Cerity Partners LLC Boosts Stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 165.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,603 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 5,363 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Woodward were worth $1,476,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WWD. Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in Woodward by 12.1% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 64,153 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $11,003,000 after acquiring an additional 6,917 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in Woodward by 114.4% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 17,038 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,971,000 after acquiring an additional 9,092 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Woodward by 17,072.3% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 76,760 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $13,165,000 after acquiring an additional 76,313 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Woodward by 16.3% during the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 93,324 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $16,274,000 after acquiring an additional 13,097 shares during the period. Finally, Pathstone Holdings LLC lifted its position in Woodward by 28.6% during the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 14,038 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,408,000 after acquiring an additional 3,120 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on WWD. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $160.00 target price (down from $186.00) on shares of Woodward in a report on Friday, October 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $226.00 target price (up previously from $187.00) on shares of Woodward in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Woodward from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Woodward from $209.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $187.44.

Woodward Trading Up 1.6 %

NASDAQ WWD opened at $181.17 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.89. The company has a market capitalization of $10.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.38. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $169.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $170.98. Woodward, Inc. has a one year low of $131.12 and a one year high of $201.64.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 25th. The technology company reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $855.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $810.39 million. Woodward had a net margin of 11.22% and a return on equity of 17.13%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.33 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Woodward, Inc. will post 5.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued 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 is Thursday, November 21st. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.64%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.99, for a total value of $1,799,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 11,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,071,864.89. The trade was a 46.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 47,913 shares of company stock valued at $8,502,604 in the last three months. 1.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.