Navellier & Associates Inc. Acquires 240 Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Navellier & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,470 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 240 shares during the period. Navellier & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Woodward were worth $1,410,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WWD. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Woodward by 17,072.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 76,760 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $13,165,000 after buying an additional 76,313 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Woodward by 20.3% in the 3rd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,871 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $664,000 after buying an additional 653 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Woodward by 23.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 1,588 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $272,000 after buying an additional 299 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Woodward by 100.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,869 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,207,000 after buying an additional 6,456 shares during the period. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its holdings in Woodward by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 6,933 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,189,000 after buying an additional 310 shares during the period. 81.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on WWD shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $197.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Woodward news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 10.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.54, for a total transaction of $1,795,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,066,684.94. This trade represents a 46.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,400 shares of company stock worth $5,844,768 in the last 90 days. 0.82% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Woodward Stock Performance

Woodward stock opened at $184.74 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $181.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $172.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.89. The stock has a market cap of $10.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.40. Woodward, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $136.25 and a fifty-two week high of $201.64.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company posted $1.45 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

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

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.