California Public Employees Retirement System Has $15.61 Million Position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

California Public Employees Retirement System decreased its holdings in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 114,698 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 4,399 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.19% of Woodward worth $15,614,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Woodward by 79.3% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 199 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Woodward during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Woodward by 22.8% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 491 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp purchased a new position in Woodward in the third quarter worth $77,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Woodward by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,746 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $217,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WWD has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Alembic Global Advisors cut Woodward from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $148.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Woodward from $134.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Woodward from $168.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Woodward from $136.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Woodward currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $158.22.

Woodward Price Performance

Woodward stock opened at $151.07 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $147.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $138.52. Woodward, Inc. has a 52 week low of $95.60 and a 52 week high of $160.79. The stock has a market cap of $9.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.87, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 2.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 29th. The technology company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $786.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $750.13 million. Woodward had a net margin of 9.50% and a return on equity of 15.26%. Woodward’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.49 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Woodward, Inc. will post 5.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 21st. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.