Van ECK Associates Corp Has $5.80 Million Holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 40.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 35,274 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,080 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp owned about 0.06% of Woodward worth $5,799,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Woodward by 94.2% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 434,385 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $75,735,000 after purchasing an additional 210,746 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Woodward by 12.3% in the 1st quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,345,438 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $207,359,000 after acquiring an additional 147,856 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Woodward by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,835,915 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $899,431,000 after acquiring an additional 77,654 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Woodward by 17,072.3% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 76,760 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $13,165,000 after acquiring an additional 76,313 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in Woodward by 13.3% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 634,698 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $110,679,000 after purchasing an additional 74,734 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on WWD shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $170.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com downgraded Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Truist Financial upgraded Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $152.00 to $187.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and set a $160.00 price target (down previously from $186.00) on shares of Woodward in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Woodward from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $174.67.

Woodward Stock Up 2.6 %

WWD opened at $176.97 on Friday. Woodward, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $126.31 and a fifty-two week high of $188.35. The company’s 50-day moving average is $165.63 and its 200 day moving average is $169.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.96 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.59, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.38.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Woodward’s payout ratio is 16.72%.

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.