Fiduciary Alliance LLC Acquires New Position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Fiduciary Alliance LLC bought a new position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 7,659 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,275,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in shares of Woodward in the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC bought a new stake in Woodward in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Woodward during the 3rd quarter valued at $41,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in Woodward by 101.6% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 246 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of Woodward during the 3rd quarter valued at $69,000. Institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on WWD shares. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $226.00 price target (up from $187.00) on shares of Woodward in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and set a $160.00 target price (down from $186.00) on shares of Woodward in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $189.78.

Insider Activity

In other Woodward news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total value 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 $3,764,325.91. This trade represents a 10.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.65, for a total transaction of $1,776,500.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 11,511 shares in the company, valued at $2,044,929.15. This represents a 46.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 60,313 shares of company stock worth $10,752,072 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WWD opened at $180.10 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $174.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $169.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.39. Woodward, Inc. has a 12-month low of $133.56 and a 12-month high of $201.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 25th. The technology company reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.19. Woodward had a net margin of 11.22% and a return on equity of 17.13%. The business had revenue of $855.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $810.39 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.33 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Woodward, Inc. will post 5.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.64%.

Woodward Company 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.