IFP Advisors Inc Boosts Stock Position in Woodward, Inc. $WWD

IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 40.6% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 994 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 287 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc’s holdings in Woodward were worth $264,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of WWD. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its holdings in Woodward by 32.5% during the second quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 220 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in Woodward by 3.1% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,909 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $468,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of Woodward by 1.6% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 3,765 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $687,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. raised its stake in shares of Woodward by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 6,830 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,246,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 7,649 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,396,000 after buying an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $244.32, for a total transaction of $427,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 20,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,121,680.16. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.82% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Woodward from $200.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Alembic Global Advisors raised shares of Woodward from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $281.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Woodward from $229.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Northcoast Research upgraded Woodward to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Woodward has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $268.67.

Woodward Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of NASDAQ WWD opened at $246.97 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $14.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 2.04. Woodward, Inc. has a 1 year low of $146.82 and a 1 year high of $267.45. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $246.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $228.08.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The technology company reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.14. Woodward had a return on equity of 16.57% and a net margin of 11.32%.The company had revenue of $915.45 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $884.98 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. Woodward’s revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. Woodward has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.500-6.750 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is 17.72%.

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.