Woodward, Inc. $WWD Position Decreased by Creative Planning

Creative Planning reduced its holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 39.4% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 5,393 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 3,508 shares during the period. Creative Planning’s holdings in Woodward were worth $1,322,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AE Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Woodward by 1.7% in the second quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,626 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $644,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in shares of Woodward by 32.5% during the 2nd quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 220 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Woodward by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,909 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $468,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of Woodward by 1.6% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 3,765 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $687,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Finally, Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 5.8% during the first quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,612 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $294,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WWD. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Woodward in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wolfe Research set a $300.00 target price on shares of Woodward and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Woodward from $200.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Woodward from $303.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Woodward from $294.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $273.22.

Insider Transactions at Woodward

In other Woodward news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,750 shares of the business’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 transaction, the director owned 20,963 shares in the company, valued at $5,121,680.16. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Price Performance

NASDAQ WWD opened at $300.29 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $260.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $247.38. Woodward, Inc. has a 52-week low of $146.82 and a 52-week high of $303.07.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 24th. The technology company reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.26. Woodward had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 16.57%. The firm had revenue of $995.26 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $943.15 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.41 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 16.5% on a year-over-year basis. Woodward has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.500-8.000 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.58%.

Woodward announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, November 20th that permits the company to buyback $1.80 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to repurchase up to 11.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.