Royce & Associates LP Has $22.05 Million Stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Royce & Associates LP trimmed its holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 40.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 132,470 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 89,057 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned about 0.22% of Woodward worth $22,046,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WWD. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. NBT Bank N A NY acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Mather Group LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Woodward by 44.8% in the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 278 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $57,000. 81.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on WWD shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Truist Financial raised 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Woodward has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $197.38.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total value of $864,156.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 17,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,278,157. The trade was a 20.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Woodward Trading Up 2.1 %

WWD stock opened at $180.53 on Monday. 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 company has a fifty day moving average price of $185.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $175.12. Woodward, Inc. has a one year low of $144.45 and a one year high of $201.64. The stock has a market cap of $10.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.39.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.45 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th were given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 20th. This is a boost from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Woodward’s payout ratio is presently 18.76%.

Woodward Company 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.