Summit Financial LLC Raises Position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Summit Financial LLC increased its stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,324 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. Summit Financial LLC’s holdings in Woodward were worth $220,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Woodward during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. NBT Bank N A NY bought a new position in Woodward in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Mather Group LLC. grew its stake in Woodward by 44.8% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 278 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Woodward during the 4th quarter valued at $57,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of Woodward by 52.0% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 374 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on WWD shares. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com cut Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $197.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total value of $864,156.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,278,157. The trade was a 20.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.36, for a total value of $641,388.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 15,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,008,109.72. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 27,900 shares of company stock worth $5,215,444 in the last quarter. 0.82% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Woodward Trading Down 10.1 %

Shares of Woodward stock opened at $157.29 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.19. Woodward, Inc. has a 1 year low of $144.45 and a 1 year high of $201.64. The firm has a market cap of $9.34 billion, a PE ratio of 26.35, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $184.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $177.08.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share (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 prior year, the company posted $1.45 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. This is a boost from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 20th. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.