Federated Hermes Inc. Trims Holdings in Woodward, Inc. $WWD

Federated Hermes Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 11.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 157,096 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 19,387 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. owned 0.26% of Woodward worth $38,503,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WWD. Newport Trust Company LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 2.3% in the first quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC now owns 2,193,238 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $400,244,000 after buying an additional 49,481 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Woodward by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,092,257 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $199,326,000 after acquiring an additional 51,873 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Woodward in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $201,555,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Woodward by 31.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 639,139 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $156,646,000 after purchasing an additional 154,071 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Woodward by 1.5% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 637,888 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $116,408,000 after purchasing an additional 9,386 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WWD opened at $298.47 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $17.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.02. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $266.78 and its 200 day moving average is $251.75. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Woodward, Inc. has a 1-year low of $146.82 and a 1-year high of $304.72.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 24th. The technology company reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $995.26 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $943.15 million. Woodward had a net margin of 12.39% and a return on equity of 17.68%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.41 earnings per share. Woodward has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.500-8.000 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Woodward announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, November 20th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.80 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire up to 11.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th were paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Woodward’s payout ratio is currently 15.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In other news, Director John D. Cohn sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.33, for a total transaction of $888,990.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 21,575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,393,319.75. This trade represents a 12.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 5,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.49, for a total value of $1,492,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 15,135 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,517,646.15. This represents a 24.83% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 25,000 shares of company stock worth $7,465,010 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on WWD shares. Zacks Research lowered Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Wolfe Research set a $300.00 price target on Woodward and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Alembic Global Advisors raised Woodward from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $281.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective on shares of Woodward in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 28th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Woodward presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $286.67.

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.