American Century Companies Inc. Grows Holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 27,449 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Woodward were worth $4,568,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. NBT Bank N A NY bought a new stake in shares of Woodward in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Mather Group LLC. raised its stake in shares of Woodward by 44.8% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 278 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Woodward during the fourth quarter worth about $57,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its stake in Woodward by 94.2% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 371 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In related news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.50, for a total transaction of $1,845,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,477 shares in the company, valued at $2,855,506.50. This trade represents a 39.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total value of $864,156.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,278,157. The trade was a 20.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 27,900 shares of company stock worth $5,215,444. 0.82% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com lowered Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group raised 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. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $197.38.

Woodward Trading Down 10.1 %

NASDAQ:WWD opened at $157.29 on Friday. Woodward, Inc. has a 12-month low of $144.45 and a 12-month high of $201.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $184.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $177.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.39.

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

Woodward Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th were given a $0.28 dividend. This is a boost from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is 18.76%.

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.