Park Square Financial Group LLC Invests $124,000 in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 744 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $124,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $465,000. Focus Partners Wealth purchased a new stake in Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $294,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its position in Woodward by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 10,286 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,712,000 after buying an additional 389 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,137,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Woodward by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 503,977 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $83,872,000 after buying an additional 3,099 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Woodward

In other Woodward news, CEO Charles P. Blankenship sold 5,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.57, for a total transaction of $1,027,850.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 73,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,030,661.69. The trade was a 6.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.50, for a total transaction of $1,845,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,855,506.50. This trade represents a 39.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 40,700 shares of company stock valued at $7,851,450. 0.82% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Woodward Price Performance

NASDAQ:WWD opened at $218.47 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market cap of $12.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $186.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $182.69. Woodward, Inc. has a 1-year low of $145.98 and a 1-year high of $226.92.

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

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on WWD. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Woodward from $175.00 to $193.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group upped their target price on Woodward from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Truist Financial set a $232.00 target price on Woodward in a research report on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $187.00 price objective on shares of Woodward and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 target price (up from $225.00) on shares of Woodward in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.75.

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.