California Public Employees Retirement System Has $17.32 Million Stock Holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 104,060 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,094 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.18% of Woodward worth $17,318,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WWD. Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Woodward in the third quarter valued at about $209,000. Centiva Capital LP grew its holdings in shares of Woodward by 20.2% during the 3rd quarter. Centiva Capital LP now owns 5,708 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $979,000 after purchasing an additional 958 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of Woodward by 0.7% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 27,255 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,673,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Woodward by 4.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,421,483 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $415,309,000 after purchasing an additional 110,569 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its position in Woodward by 51.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 42,189 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,236,000 after purchasing an additional 14,326 shares during the period. 81.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on WWD shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $197.38.

Woodward Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WWD opened at $157.29 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $184.93 and a 200-day moving average of $177.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.89. Woodward, Inc. has a twelve month low of $144.45 and a twelve month high of $201.64. The firm has a market cap of $9.34 billion, a PE ratio of 26.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.39.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.45 earnings per share. On average, 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 issued a $0.28 dividend. This is a boost from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Woodward news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total value of $864,156.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,278,157. This represents a 20.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 3,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.36, for a total value of $641,388.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,008,109.72. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,900 shares of company stock worth $5,215,444 over the last three months. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.