Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Has $3.68 Million Stock Holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 3.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 23,853 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 853 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in Woodward were worth $3,676,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WWD. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Woodward by 79.3% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 199 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Woodward during the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in shares of Woodward during the 1st quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Woodward

In other news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 6,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.01, for a total transaction of $1,002,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 17,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,914,324.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.12% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Trading Up 1.2 %

WWD stock opened at $179.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 1.78. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $180.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $159.29. Woodward, Inc. has a one year low of $118.64 and a one year high of $188.35. The stock has a market cap of $10.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.37.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 29th. The technology company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.34. Woodward had a net margin of 11.09% and a return on equity of 16.50%. The firm had revenue of $835.34 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $807.04 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.01 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Woodward, Inc. will post 5.88 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 22nd. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.48%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WWD. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Woodward from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Woodward from $140.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Woodward from $159.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Woodward from $156.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Woodward from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.38.

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.