Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $23.70 Million Stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 31.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 138,202 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 64,563 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.23% of Woodward worth $23,703,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of WWD. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in Woodward by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,758 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $302,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Commerce Bank grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 2.1% during the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 4,624 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $793,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in shares of Woodward by 0.4% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 28,734 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,928,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in Woodward by 101.6% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 246 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in Woodward by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 4,575 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $785,000 after buying an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WWD has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays boosted their target price on Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $226.00 target price (up from $187.00) on shares of Woodward in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Woodward from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Woodward from $209.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $187.44.

Insider Transactions at Woodward

In related news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total transaction of $430,968.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,764,325.91. This represents a 10.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.50, for a total value of $1,745,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,511 shares in the company, valued at $2,008,669.50. This trade represents a 46.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 60,313 shares of company stock valued at $10,752,072 in the last ninety days. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Woodward Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of WWD stock opened at $170.78 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.38. Woodward, Inc. has a 12-month low of $131.12 and a 12-month high of $201.64. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $172.51 and a 200-day moving average of $170.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The technology company reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 17.13% and a net margin of 11.22%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Woodward, Inc. will post 5.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.64%.

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.