AXQ Capital LP Acquires New Position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

AXQ Capital LP acquired a new stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 3,708 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $617,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WWD. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Woodward by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,421,483 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $415,309,000 after buying an additional 110,569 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Woodward by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,278,502 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $219,321,000 after buying an additional 59,290 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Woodward by 135.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 992,189 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $170,170,000 after buying an additional 570,124 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in Woodward by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 649,961 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $108,166,000 after buying an additional 36,911 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. purchased a new position in Woodward during the 3rd quarter valued at about $99,000,000. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on WWD. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com raised Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $197.38.

Insider Activity at Woodward

In related news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.50, for a total transaction of $1,845,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,477 shares in the company, valued at $2,855,506.50. This represents a 39.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total value of $864,156.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,278,157. The trade was a 20.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.82% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Woodward Stock Performance

Shares of WWD stock opened at $185.39 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.89. Woodward, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.45 and a fifty-two week high of $201.64. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $185.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $175.76. The company has a market capitalization of $11.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.05, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.39.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.21. Woodward had a return on equity of 16.76% and a net margin of 11.18%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.45 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 20th. This is an increase from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.76%.

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.