Associated Banc Corp Decreases Stock Position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Associated Banc Corp cut its holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 5.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 62,674 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 3,836 shares during the quarter. Associated Banc Corp’s holdings in Woodward were worth $10,430,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. acquired a new position in Woodward in the 3rd quarter valued at about $99,000,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Woodward by 135.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 992,189 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $170,170,000 after purchasing an additional 570,124 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Woodward in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,187,000. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT acquired a new position in Woodward in the 4th quarter valued at about $20,045,000. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in Woodward by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,421,483 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $415,309,000 after purchasing an additional 110,569 shares during the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Woodward has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $197.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Woodward news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total value of $864,156.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 17,450 shares in the company, valued at $3,278,157. This represents a 20.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.82% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Woodward Stock Up 2.1 %

WWD opened at $180.53 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $184.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.87. The company has a market cap of $10.72 billion, a PE ratio of 30.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.39. Woodward, Inc. has a 1 year low of $144.29 and a 1 year high of $201.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.89.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.45 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th were issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 20th. This is a boost from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.76%.

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.