Xponance Inc. Increases Holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Xponance Inc. increased its stake in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 1.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,830 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 81 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Woodward were worth $1,246,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Farallon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Woodward by 31.8% during the fourth quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,521,300 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $253,175,000 after buying an additional 367,300 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC raised its position in Woodward by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,418,123 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $236,004,000 after purchasing an additional 38,774 shares during the period. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. raised its position in Woodward by 130.2% in the fourth quarter. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. now owns 1,328,765 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $221,133,000 after purchasing an additional 751,541 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Woodward by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,302,237 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $216,771,000 after purchasing an additional 23,735 shares during the period. Finally, Duquesne Family Office LLC raised its position in Woodward by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. Duquesne Family Office LLC now owns 1,225,750 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $203,989,000 after purchasing an additional 168,035 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WWD has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Woodward from $267.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Woodward from $175.00 to $193.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Woodward from $229.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $291.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective (up previously from $225.00) on shares of Woodward in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $232.25.

Woodward Trading Up 0.1%

WWD opened at $251.74 on Wednesday. Woodward, Inc. has a 12 month low of $145.98 and a 12 month high of $255.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.67, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $229.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $198.17.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The technology company reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.25. Woodward had a return on equity of 16.86% and a net margin of 11.36%. The firm had revenue of $883.63 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $838.61 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.62 EPS. Woodward’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.52, for a total transaction of $536,256.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 20,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,015,216.80. This represents a 11.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Randall Hobbs sold 846 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $211,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 48,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,245,250. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 42,096 shares of company stock valued at $9,247,289. 0.82% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.