5,000 Shares in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Purchased by Elwood Capital Partners LP

Elwood Capital Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 5,000 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $832,000. Woodward makes up approximately 0.8% of Elwood Capital Partners LP’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in shares of Woodward in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Woodward during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. NBT Bank N A NY acquired a new stake in Woodward during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Mather Group LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Woodward by 44.8% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 278 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the period. Finally, R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Woodward in the 4th quarter valued at about $57,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total transaction of $864,156.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,278,157. This trade represents a 20.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.49, for a total transaction of $1,864,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,886,305.73. The trade was a 39.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 27,900 shares of company stock valued at $5,215,444. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on WWD shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays lifted 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. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Woodward presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $197.38.

Woodward Trading Down 0.4 %

Woodward stock opened at $182.49 on Tuesday. Woodward, Inc. has a 1 year low of $144.45 and a 1 year high of $201.64. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $185.92 and its 200-day moving average is $176.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.89. The company has a market cap of $10.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.57, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.39.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.21. Woodward had a return on equity of 16.76% and a net margin of 11.18%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.45 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. This is a boost from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 20th. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.76%.

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.