Anthracite Investment Company Inc. Purchases New Shares in Woodward, Inc. $WWD

Anthracite Investment Company Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 15,000 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,676,000. Woodward makes up approximately 1.9% of Anthracite Investment Company Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Newport Trust Company LLC boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 2.3% during the first quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC now owns 2,193,238 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $400,244,000 after purchasing an additional 49,481 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 5.0% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,092,257 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $199,326,000 after purchasing an additional 51,873 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 1.5% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 637,888 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $116,408,000 after purchasing an additional 9,386 shares in the last quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in Woodward by 5.7% in the first quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 593,148 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $108,244,000 after acquiring an additional 32,225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Woodward by 0.9% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 486,281 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $88,743,000 after acquiring an additional 4,432 shares in the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on WWD shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Woodward in a report on Friday. Alembic Global Advisors raised Woodward from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $281.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 13th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Woodward from $283.00 to $299.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on Woodward from $267.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Woodward has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $268.67.

Woodward Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:WWD opened at $265.82 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $15.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.06, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 1.39. Woodward, Inc. has a 1 year low of $146.82 and a 1 year high of $267.45. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $247.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $232.07.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The technology company reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $915.45 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $884.98 million. Woodward had a return on equity of 16.57% and a net margin of 11.32%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.63 earnings per share. Woodward has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.500-6.750 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.72%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $244.32, for a total transaction of $427,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 20,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,121,680.16. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.