Ground Swell Capital LLC Buys Shares of 1,439 Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Ground Swell Capital LLC acquired a new position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,439 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $263,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Farallon Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Woodward by 31.8% in the 4th quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,521,300 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $253,175,000 after buying an additional 367,300 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Woodward by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,418,123 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $236,004,000 after buying an additional 38,774 shares during the last quarter. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. grew its position in shares of Woodward by 130.2% in the 4th quarter. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. now owns 1,328,765 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $221,133,000 after buying an additional 751,541 shares during the last quarter. Duquesne Family Office LLC grew its position in shares of Woodward by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Duquesne Family Office LLC now owns 1,225,750 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $203,989,000 after buying an additional 168,035 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Woodward by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,092,257 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $199,326,000 after buying an additional 51,873 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WWD. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $267.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Woodward from $283.00 to $299.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $291.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $249.63.

Woodward Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WWD opened at $246.86 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Woodward, Inc. has a 12 month low of $146.82 and a 12 month high of $267.45. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $247.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $208.82. The stock has a market cap of $14.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.06, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.30.

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

Woodward Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Woodward’s payout ratio is currently 17.72%.

Insider Activity at Woodward

In related news, CEO Charles P. Blankenship sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.98, for a total value of $1,079,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 73,117 shares in the company, valued at $15,791,809.66. The trade was a 6.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Randall Hobbs sold 846 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $211,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 48,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,245,250. The trade was a 1.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 39,296 shares of company stock worth $8,711,033 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

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.