Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Sells 6,522 Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lowered its stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 1.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 497,455 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 6,522 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.84% of Woodward worth $90,781,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Focus Partners Wealth bought a new position in shares of Woodward in the fourth quarter worth about $294,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 1.1% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 7,649 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,396,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 13.3% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,580 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $653,000 after acquiring an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund acquired a new position in shares of Woodward in the first quarter valued at approximately $733,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Woodward in the first quarter valued at approximately $294,000. Institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Woodward news, EVP Randall Hobbs sold 846 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 48,981 shares in the company, valued at $12,245,250. This trade represents a 1.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Terence J. Voskuil sold 10,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.03, for a total value of $2,310,300.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 4,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,142,443.35. This trade represents a 66.91% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 39,296 shares of company stock worth $8,711,033 in the last quarter. 0.82% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Woodward Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of Woodward stock opened at $252.42 on Wednesday. Woodward, Inc. has a 1 year low of $146.82 and a 1 year high of $267.45. The firm has a market cap of $15.14 billion, a PE ratio of 39.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $247.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $208.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 28th. The technology company reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.14. Woodward had a return on equity of 16.57% and a net margin of 11.32%. The company had revenue of $915.45 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $884.98 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.72%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on WWD shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Woodward from $175.00 to $193.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $291.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price target (up from $225.00) on shares of Woodward in a report on Friday, May 23rd. UBS Group increased their price target on Woodward from $283.00 to $299.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on Woodward from $267.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $249.63.

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.