Inspire Investing LLC Sells 219 Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Inspire Investing LLC cut its holdings in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,926 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 219 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in Woodward were worth $820,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WWD. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Woodward by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 425,854 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $74,261,000 after purchasing an additional 28,698 shares during the period. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C raised its holdings in shares of Woodward by 12.6% in the 2nd quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C now owns 1,648 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $287,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Scientech Research LLC bought a new stake in shares of Woodward in the 2nd quarter valued at about $878,000. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC raised its holdings in Woodward by 124.0% in the 2nd quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC now owns 57,587 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,042,000 after acquiring an additional 31,878 shares during the period. Finally, Algert Global LLC raised its holdings in Woodward by 16.0% in the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 69,241 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $12,074,000 after acquiring an additional 9,542 shares during the period. 81.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on WWD shares. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Woodward from $209.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Woodward from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $160.00 price target (down from $186.00) on shares of Woodward in a report on Friday, October 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $190.11.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In other news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total transaction of $430,968.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 20,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,764,325.91. This trade represents a 10.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.50, for a total transaction of $1,745,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,008,669.50. The trade was a 46.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 60,313 shares of company stock worth $10,752,072 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Stock Performance

NASDAQ WWD opened at $187.95 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.39. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $177.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $170.31. Woodward, Inc. has a 1 year low of $133.56 and a 1 year high of $201.64.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The technology company reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.19. Woodward had a net margin of 11.22% and a return on equity of 17.13%. The firm had revenue of $855.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $810.39 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.33 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Woodward, Inc. will post 6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.64%.

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.