Acadian Asset Management LLC Acquires 210,746 Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 94.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 434,385 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 210,746 shares during the quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC owned 0.71% of Woodward worth $75,735,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $84,157,000. Earnest Partners LLC grew its holdings in Woodward by 12.3% during the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,345,438 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $207,359,000 after purchasing an additional 147,856 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in Woodward by 37.6% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 524,683 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $71,425,000 after buying an additional 143,410 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Woodward by 1.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,835,915 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $899,431,000 after buying an additional 77,654 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Woodward by 3,387.8% in the fourth quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 78,231 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,650,000 after buying an additional 75,988 shares during the period. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on WWD shares. Truist Financial raised Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $152.00 to $187.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $170.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Woodward from $228.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Woodward from $200.00 to $186.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $197.00 to $158.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Woodward has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $177.11.

Woodward Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WWD opened at $159.41 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $166.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $164.36. The company has a market cap of $9.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.87, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.96 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Woodward, Inc. has a one year low of $119.03 and a one year high of $188.35.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 29th. The technology company reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $847.69 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $853.29 million. Woodward had a return on equity of 17.16% and a net margin of 11.47%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.37 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Woodward, Inc. will post 5.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 22nd were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 22nd. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.48%.

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.