Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Lowers Position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lowered its stake in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 14.6% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 497,917 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 85,049 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Woodward were worth $86,827,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Woodward during the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Woodward during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward in the first quarter worth $34,000. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Woodward in the 2nd quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Woodward during the 1st quarter valued at $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Stock Down 1.3 %

WWD stock opened at $165.11 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.87, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.37. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $165.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $165.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Woodward, Inc. has a twelve month low of $119.03 and a twelve month high of $188.35.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The technology company reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.11. Woodward had a net margin of 11.47% and a return on equity of 17.16%. The company had revenue of $847.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $853.29 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.37 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Woodward, Inc. will post 5.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 22nd. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.48%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.