Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Purchases New Position in Woodward, Inc. $WWD

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. purchased a new position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 1,364 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $334,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WWD. Savant Capital LLC grew its stake in Woodward by 9.7% in the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 80,914 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $19,831,000 after acquiring an additional 7,138 shares during the period. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Woodward during the 2nd quarter worth about $246,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. purchased a new position in Woodward in the 2nd quarter valued at about $206,000. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Woodward by 26.5% in the 2nd quarter. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC now owns 860 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $211,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Woodward by 31.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 639,139 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $156,646,000 after buying an additional 154,071 shares in the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Woodward Price Performance

WWD stock opened at $268.45 on Thursday. Woodward, Inc. has a 52-week low of $146.82 and a 52-week high of $274.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market cap of $16.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.26. The business has a fifty day moving average of $252.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $241.03.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.72%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $244.32, for a total transaction of $427,560.00. Following the sale, the director owned 20,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,121,680.16. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Alembic Global Advisors raised Woodward from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $281.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Woodward from $283.00 to $299.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Woodward from $200.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Woodward to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 13th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Woodward currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $268.67.

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.