Barclays PLC Purchases 14,326 Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 51.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 42,189 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,326 shares during the period. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Woodward were worth $7,236,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in WWD. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. acquired a new stake in Woodward in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $99,000,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 94.2% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 434,385 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $75,735,000 after acquiring an additional 210,746 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 4.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,421,483 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $415,309,000 after acquiring an additional 110,569 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Woodward by 17,072.3% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 76,760 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $13,165,000 after acquiring an additional 76,313 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in Woodward by 13.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 634,698 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $110,679,000 after purchasing an additional 74,734 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on WWD. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $226.00 price target (up from $187.00) on shares of Woodward in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Woodward from $209.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $160.00 price target (down previously from $186.00) on shares of Woodward in a report on Friday, October 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Woodward from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $187.44.

Woodward Price Performance

Woodward stock opened at $167.65 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $171.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $170.63. Woodward, Inc. has a one year low of $131.12 and a one year high of $201.64. The company has a market capitalization of $9.91 billion, a PE ratio of 27.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.23.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The technology company reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.19. Woodward had a net margin of 11.22% and a return on equity of 17.13%. The company had revenue of $855.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $810.39 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.33 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Woodward, Inc. will post 5.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Stockholders 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 0.60%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. Woodward’s payout ratio is 16.64%.

Insider Activity

In other Woodward news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.85, for a total transaction of $1,818,500.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 11,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,093,275.35. This represents 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. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 60,313 shares of company stock worth $10,752,072. Insiders own 1.12% of the company’s stock.

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.