Stifel Financial Corp Cuts Stock Holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Stifel Financial Corp reduced its position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,018 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 297 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in Woodward were worth $2,999,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WWD. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Woodward in the fourth quarter worth $120,220,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Woodward in the 4th quarter worth about $31,187,000. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Woodward by 313.6% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 174,476 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,037,000 after acquiring an additional 132,287 shares during the period. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT purchased a new stake in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter valued at about $20,045,000. Finally, FIL Ltd grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 28.2% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 458,886 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $76,368,000 after acquiring an additional 100,958 shares during the period. 81.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In other Woodward news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,800 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.52, for a total value of $536,256.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,015,216.80. This trade represents a 11.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 3,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.36, for a total transaction of $641,388.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 15,477 shares in the company, 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 a total of 30,700 shares of company stock valued at $5,751,700 in the last three months. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Woodward Trading Up 1.8 %

Woodward stock opened at $193.92 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. Woodward, Inc. has a 12-month low of $145.98 and a 12-month high of $201.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $178.46 and a 200 day moving average of $178.11.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The technology company reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $883.63 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $838.61 million. Woodward had a net margin of 11.18% and a return on equity of 16.76%. The company’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.62 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. Woodward’s payout ratio is 18.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WWD. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Woodward from $205.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Woodward from $175.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $187.00 price objective on Woodward and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. StockNews.com raised Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Woodward from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $195.00.

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.