Strs Ohio Increases Stake in Woodward, Inc. $WWD

Strs Ohio increased its position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 34.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,832 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,263 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Woodward were worth $2,165,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of WWD. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased 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 purchasing an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC grew its stake 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 buying an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Virtus Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Woodward in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $38,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in Woodward by 32.5% in the 2nd quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 220 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Woodward by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. Berbice Capital Management LLC now owns 300 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 100 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 Woodward news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WWD has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen cut Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. Wolfe Research set a $300.00 target price on Woodward and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. UBS Group lifted their target price on Woodward from $283.00 to $299.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Zacks Research lowered Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $200.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Woodward has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $268.67.

Woodward Price Performance

Woodward stock opened at $258.89 on Wednesday. Woodward, Inc. has a 52 week low of $146.82 and a 52 week high of $270.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market cap of $15.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.96, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.26. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $249.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $237.54.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

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