Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. Buys Shares of 10,283 Woodward, Inc. $WWD

Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 10,283 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,520,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 189.8% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 171 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Woodward by 116.7% in the 1st quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 182 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. Virtus Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Woodward in the 1st quarter worth $38,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its position in Woodward by 32.5% in the 2nd 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. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Woodward by 2,218.2% during the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 255 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the period. 81.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Woodward news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,750 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $244.32, for a total transaction of $427,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 20,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,121,680.16. This trade represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WWD has been the subject of several research reports. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded shares of Woodward from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $281.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Woodward from $200.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Woodward in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Woodward from $283.00 to $299.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $268.67.

Woodward Trading Up 1.6%

WWD stock opened at $262.70 on Monday. Woodward, Inc. has a 1-year low of $146.82 and a 1-year high of $274.50. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The business’s 50 day moving average is $254.92 and its 200-day moving average is $244.82. The firm has a market cap of $15.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.26.

Woodward announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, November 20th that permits the company to buyback $1.80 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to buy up to 11.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.72%.

Woodward 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.