Amalgamated Bank Buys 566 Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Amalgamated Bank lifted its stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 29,001 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 566 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Woodward were worth $4,826,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Woodward by 135.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 992,189 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $170,170,000 after buying an additional 570,124 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Woodward in the third quarter valued at $2,547,000. PEAK6 Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Woodward in the 3rd quarter worth about $2,448,000. Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Woodward by 12.1% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 64,153 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $11,003,000 after purchasing an additional 6,917 shares during the period. Finally, Ingalls & Snyder LLC bought a new position in Woodward during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,698,000. Institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In other news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.54, for a total value of $1,795,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 11,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,066,684.94. The trade was a 46.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total transaction of $430,968.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 20,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,764,325.91. The trade was a 10.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 22,400 shares of company stock valued at $4,044,868. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on WWD shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com downgraded Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group lifted their target price on Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $197.38.

Woodward Stock Performance

Shares of Woodward stock opened at $184.59 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $182.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $173.29. The firm has a market cap of $10.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.40. Woodward, Inc. has a 12 month low of $136.25 and a 12 month high of $201.64.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 prior year, the business 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 business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. This is a positive change from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.