Navellier & Associates Inc. Purchases 240 Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Navellier & Associates Inc. boosted its position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 8,470 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the period. Navellier & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Woodward were worth $1,410,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WWD. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in shares of Woodward during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Woodward during the 3rd quarter valued at about $41,000. Mather Group LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Woodward by 44.8% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 278 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter valued at about $57,000. Institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 20,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,764,325.91. The trade was a 10.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.54, for a total transaction of $1,795,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,066,684.94. The trade was a 46.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 32,400 shares of company stock valued at $5,844,768 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on WWD. StockNews.com lowered shares of Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Woodward has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $197.38.

Woodward Stock Down 2.8 %

Shares of Woodward stock opened at $184.74 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.97 billion, a PE ratio of 30.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.40. Woodward, Inc. has a 52-week low of $136.25 and a 52-week high of $201.64. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $181.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $172.63.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.21. Woodward had a net margin of 11.18% and a return on equity of 16.76%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.45 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. This is a boost from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Woodward’s payout ratio is presently 18.76%.

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.