Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Shares Sold by Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lowered its holdings in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 14.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 497,917 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 85,049 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. owned 0.83% of Woodward worth $86,827,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Woodward in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Woodward by 87.5% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 51,551 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,018,000 after buying an additional 24,063 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its stake in Woodward by 59.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 5,128 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $698,000 after buying an additional 1,906 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Woodward during the 4th quarter worth $84,157,000. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Woodward by 146.7% in the 4th quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 9,275 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,263,000 after acquiring an additional 5,515 shares during the period. 81.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $152.00 to $187.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. TD Cowen cut their target price on Woodward from $200.00 to $186.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $197.00 to $158.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $170.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $177.11.

Woodward Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of WWD opened at $165.11 on Monday. Woodward, Inc. has a 1-year low of $119.03 and a 1-year high of $188.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.96 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $165.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $165.46. The stock has a market cap of $9.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.37.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The technology company reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $847.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $853.29 million. Woodward had a return on equity of 17.16% and a net margin of 11.47%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.37 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Woodward, Inc. will post 5.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 22nd. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.48%.

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.