Whittier Trust Co. Has $475,000 Stock Holdings in Woodward, Inc. $WWD

Whittier Trust Co. cut its stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 57.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,937 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,608 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Woodward were worth $475,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WWD. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Woodward in the 1st quarter valued at $25,667,000. Senator Investment Group LP acquired a new position in Woodward in the 1st quarter valued at $22,355,000. Eisler Capital Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Woodward by 164.5% in the 1st quarter. Eisler Capital Management Ltd. now owns 178,139 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $32,503,000 after acquiring an additional 110,799 shares in the last quarter. Kodai Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Woodward in the 1st quarter valued at $13,055,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Woodward by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,092,257 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $199,326,000 after acquiring an additional 51,873 shares in the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Woodward

In other Woodward news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $244.32, for a total value of $427,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 20,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,121,680.16. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Woodward Price Performance

Woodward stock opened at $263.79 on Friday. Woodward, Inc. has a 52 week low of $146.82 and a 52 week high of $267.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $247.00 and a 200-day moving average of $230.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 2.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.26.

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

Woodward Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Woodward from $267.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Alembic Global Advisors raised Woodward from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $281.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Northcoast Research raised Woodward to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Wall Street Zen cut Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Woodward in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $268.67.

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.