Securian Asset Management Inc. Lowers Position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Securian Asset Management Inc. lessened its stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,510 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 129 shares during the quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Woodward were worth $751,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WWD. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 21.9% in the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 4,550 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $780,000 after buying an additional 818 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. raised its stake in Woodward by 10.7% during the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 2,093 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $359,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in Woodward during the third quarter valued at $3,923,000. KBC Group NV raised its stake in Woodward by 10.5% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,648 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $283,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Woodward by 3.5% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,758 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $302,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Trading Up 2.1 %

WWD stock opened at $180.53 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Woodward, Inc. has a twelve month low of $144.45 and a twelve month high of $201.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.39. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $185.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $175.05.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.45 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th were issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 20th. This is a boost from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.76%.

Insider Transactions at Woodward

In other Woodward news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total transaction of $864,156.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,450 shares in the company, valued at $3,278,157. This represents a 20.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WWD has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $197.38.

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.