Handelsbanken Fonder AB Purchases 10,723 Shares of Woodward, Inc. $WWD

Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 54.6% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 30,370 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,723 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Woodward were worth $7,443,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WWD. Newport Trust Company LLC boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC now owns 2,193,238 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $400,244,000 after purchasing an additional 49,481 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Woodward by 5.0% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,092,257 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $199,326,000 after buying an additional 51,873 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Woodward by 31.8% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 639,139 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $156,646,000 after buying an additional 154,071 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Woodward by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 637,888 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $116,408,000 after buying an additional 9,386 shares during the period. Finally, Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Woodward by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 593,148 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $108,244,000 after acquiring an additional 32,225 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on WWD shares. Barclays boosted their price target 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. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Woodward in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group raised their price target on Woodward from $283.00 to $299.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded Woodward from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $281.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $300.00 target price on Woodward and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $268.67.

Woodward Trading Up 1.6%

NASDAQ:WWD opened at $262.70 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $15.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.26. Woodward, Inc. has a twelve month low of $146.82 and a twelve month high of $274.50. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $254.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $244.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.72%.

Woodward declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, November 20th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.80 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire up to 11.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,750 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $244.32, for a total value 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 trade represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

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.