Avior Wealth Management LLC Trims Position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Avior Wealth Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 7.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,800 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 300 shares during the period. Avior Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Woodward were worth $517,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WWD. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Woodward in the 3rd quarter valued at $4,911,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Woodward by 1.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,721,250 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $710,923,000 after buying an additional 59,884 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Woodward by 6.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 998,396 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $124,061,000 after buying an additional 61,216 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in Woodward by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 381,273 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $47,377,000 after buying an additional 40,957 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Woodward by 95.3% in the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 13,059 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,621,000 after acquiring an additional 6,374 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WWD opened at $146.81 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $146.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $137.38. The stock has a market cap of $8.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.97, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a current ratio of 2.65, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Woodward, Inc. has a 12 month low of $91.42 and a 12 month high of $160.79.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The technology company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $786.73 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $750.13 million. Woodward had a return on equity of 15.26% and a net margin of 9.50%. The company’s revenue was up 27.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.49 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Woodward, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. This is a boost from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.10%.

Insider Activity at Woodward

In other Woodward news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.86, for a total transaction of $208,290.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at $2,850,934.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.86, for a total transaction of $208,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 20,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,850,934.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher Fawzy sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $1,540,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $677,040. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 51,200 shares of company stock worth $7,242,916 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on WWD. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Woodward from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Barclays boosted their target price on Woodward from $134.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Woodward from $136.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $168.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Woodward from $165.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Woodward presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $158.22.

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.