Mount Lucas Management LP Has $198,000 Stock Position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Mount Lucas Management LP reduced its stake in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 17.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,189 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 250 shares during the quarter. Mount Lucas Management LP’s holdings in Woodward were worth $198,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter worth $465,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Woodward by 135.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 992,189 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $170,170,000 after buying an additional 570,124 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of Woodward during the 3rd quarter worth $2,547,000. PEAK6 Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Woodward during the 3rd quarter worth $2,448,000. Finally, Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in shares of Woodward by 12.1% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 64,153 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $11,003,000 after buying an additional 6,917 shares during the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Woodward Price Performance

Woodward stock opened at $173.24 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The company has a market capitalization of $10.28 billion, a PE ratio of 29.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.39. Woodward, Inc. has a 12 month low of $144.13 and a 12 month high of $201.64. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $184.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $174.62.

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

Woodward Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is a boost from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Woodward’s payout ratio is presently 18.76%.

Insider Activity at Woodward

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

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.