AlphaQuest LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

AlphaQuest LLC increased its position in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 910.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,816 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,845 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Woodward were worth $1,634,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WWD. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. acquired a new stake in Woodward during the third quarter worth about $99,000,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Woodward by 135.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 992,189 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $170,170,000 after purchasing an additional 570,124 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Woodward during the fourth quarter worth about $31,187,000. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT acquired a new stake in Woodward during the fourth quarter worth about $20,045,000. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in Woodward by 4.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,421,483 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $415,309,000 after purchasing an additional 110,569 shares during the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total value of $864,156.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 17,450 shares in the company, valued at $3,278,157. The trade was a 20.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.82% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Woodward Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of WWD stock opened at $176.35 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $184.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.50. Woodward, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.13 and a fifty-two week high of $201.64.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.21. Woodward had a net margin of 11.18% and a return on equity of 16.76%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.45 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th were paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. This is an increase from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Woodward’s payout ratio is currently 18.76%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WWD has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $197.38.

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.