Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 136,706 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,496 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Woodward were worth $22,751,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in Woodward by 39.4% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 49,160 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,181,000 after purchasing an additional 13,886 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its position in shares of Woodward by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 16,600 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,763,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Panoramic Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Woodward during the fourth quarter worth $341,000. Savant Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Woodward by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 72,460 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $12,059,000 after acquiring an additional 1,637 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Woodward by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,160 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $526,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares during the period. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Woodward

In other Woodward news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total transaction of $430,968.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 20,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,764,325.91. The trade was a 10.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.54, for a total value of $1,795,400.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,511 shares in the company, valued at $2,066,684.94. The trade was a 46.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 32,400 shares of company stock worth $5,844,768. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Woodward Stock Down 2.8 %

Shares of Woodward stock opened at $184.74 on Monday. Woodward, Inc. has a twelve month low of $136.25 and a twelve month high of $201.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The stock has a market cap of $10.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $181.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $172.77.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period last year, the firm posted $1.45 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.28 dividend. This is a positive change from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.76%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WWD has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays raised their price objective on Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group raised their price objective on Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned 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 $197.38.

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.