Raymond James Financial Inc. Makes New Investment in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 187,399 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,187,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.32% of Woodward as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Woodward in the 4th quarter valued at $120,220,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 135.1% in 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. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT bought a new position in Woodward during the fourth quarter valued at about $20,045,000. FIL Ltd increased its holdings in Woodward by 28.2% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 458,886 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $76,368,000 after buying an additional 100,958 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Woodward by 44.8% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 185,092 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,803,000 after acquiring an additional 57,284 shares during the period. 81.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WWD shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. UBS Group raised their target price 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 reiterated a “reduce” rating on shares of Woodward in a research note on Tuesday. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $187.00 target price on shares of Woodward and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $196.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In related news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 $3,278,157. This represents a 20.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.50, for a total value of $1,845,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,855,506.50. This trade represents a 39.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 27,900 shares of company stock valued at $5,215,444 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of Woodward stock opened at $169.58 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $180.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $176.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Woodward, Inc. has a 12-month low of $145.98 and a 12-month high of $201.64. The company has a market cap of $10.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.41, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.12.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business posted $1.45 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This is a positive change from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 20th. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.76%.

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.