Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. Acquires 751,541 Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. lifted its holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 130.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,328,765 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 751,541 shares during the quarter. Woodward makes up approximately 23.4% of Naya Capital Management UK Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. owned about 2.24% of Woodward worth $221,133,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WWD. Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Woodward during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. NBT Bank N A NY acquired a new position in Woodward during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Mather Group LLC. lifted its holdings in Woodward by 44.8% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 278 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Woodward during the 4th quarter worth $57,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in Woodward by 52.0% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 374 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WWD has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group upped their target price 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. 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 report on Wednesday, April 30th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Woodward from $205.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $187.00 price target on Woodward and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $195.00.

Woodward Stock Performance

Shares of Woodward stock opened at $201.47 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.96 billion, a PE ratio of 33.75, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.24. Woodward, Inc. has a 12 month low of $145.98 and a 12 month high of $203.05. 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 simple moving average is $179.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $179.56.

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

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The company 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. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 22nd. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is 18.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In other Woodward 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 sale, the director now owns 17,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,278,157. This trade represents a 20.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.50, for a total value of $1,845,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,477 shares in the company, valued at $2,855,506.50. This represents a 39.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 30,700 shares of company stock valued at $5,751,700 in the last 90 days. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Woodward 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.