Rodgers Brothers Inc. Has $850,000 Position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Rodgers Brothers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,110 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 100 shares during the quarter. Rodgers Brothers Inc.’s holdings in Woodward were worth $850,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter worth approximately $120,220,000. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Woodward in the third quarter valued at $99,000,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 570,124 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Woodward during the fourth quarter worth $31,187,000. Finally, Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT acquired a new stake in Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at $20,045,000. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WWD has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Woodward presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $197.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 3,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.36, for a total transaction of $641,388.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 15,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,008,109.72. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $864,156.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,450 shares in the company, valued at $3,278,157. This trade represents a 20.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 27,900 shares of company stock worth $5,215,444 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Stock Down 2.5 %

WWD stock opened at $183.29 on Monday. Woodward, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.45 and a fifty-two week high of $201.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.70, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.39. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $186.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.78.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 quarter last year, the business earned $1.45 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. This is an increase from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.76%.

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.