Renaissance Investment Group LLC Decreases Stock Position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Renaissance Investment Group LLC cut its stake in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 24.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,220 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 400 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Woodward were worth $203,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WWD. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Woodward during the 4th quarter valued at $235,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 112.2% during the fourth quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 10,645 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,772,000 after purchasing an additional 5,629 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 39.4% in the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,395 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $898,000 after purchasing an additional 1,524 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its holdings in Woodward by 105.2% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 5,299 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,717 shares during the period. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC increased its holdings in Woodward by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 7,690 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,280,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the period. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WWD has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Truist Financial lifted 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Woodward from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Woodward from $197.00 to $193.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Woodward has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $190.11.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In other Woodward news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total value of $430,968.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 20,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,764,325.91. The trade was a 10.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.65, for a total transaction of $1,776,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 11,511 shares in the company, valued at $2,044,929.15. This represents a 46.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 60,313 shares of company stock worth $10,752,072. 0.82% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Woodward Price Performance

Shares of WWD opened at $189.12 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $176.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $169.72. Woodward, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $133.56 and a fifty-two week high of $201.64. The stock has a market cap of $11.18 billion, a PE ratio of 31.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.89.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 25th. The technology company reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.19. Woodward had a return on equity of 17.13% and a net margin of 11.22%. The company had revenue of $855.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $810.39 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.33 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.64%.

Woodward Company Profile

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.