VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Buys Shares of 15,023 Woodward, Inc. $WWD

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 15,023 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,682,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WWD. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Woodward in the first quarter valued at $25,667,000. Senator Investment Group LP purchased a new position in shares of Woodward during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $22,355,000. Eisler Capital Management Ltd. increased 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 worth $32,503,000 after acquiring an additional 110,799 shares in the last quarter. Kodai Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Woodward during the 1st quarter valued at about $13,055,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Woodward by 5.0% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,092,257 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $199,326,000 after buying an additional 51,873 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial raised their price target on Woodward from $267.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Barclays increased their price objective on Woodward from $200.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Wolfe Research set a $300.00 target price on Woodward and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Woodward from $229.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Woodward presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $268.67.

Woodward Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WWD opened at $251.98 on Tuesday. Woodward, Inc. has a 52-week low of $146.82 and a 52-week high of $267.45. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average is $246.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $229.80. The company has a market cap of $15.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.26.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The technology company reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $915.45 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $884.98 million. Woodward had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 16.57%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.63 EPS. Woodward has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.500-6.750 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 4th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. Woodward’s payout ratio is presently 17.72%.

Insider Transactions at Woodward

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

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.