Xponance Inc. Has $988,000 Stock Holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Xponance Inc. lifted its stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,259 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Woodward were worth $988,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Woodward by 79.3% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 199 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Woodward during the third quarter worth approximately $32,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp bought a new stake in Woodward in the third quarter valued at approximately $77,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Woodward by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,746 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $217,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Woodward during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $283,000. Institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on WWD shares. Barclays increased their price target on Woodward from $134.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Woodward from $159.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Woodward from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Woodward from $165.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $158.22.

Insider Activity at Woodward

In other news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 38,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.98, for a total transaction of $5,494,626.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 11,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,680,049.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 38,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.98, for a total value of $5,494,626.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,680,049.34. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher Fawzy sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $1,540,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $677,040. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 51,200 shares of company stock valued at $7,242,916 over the last three months. 1.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Woodward Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WWD opened at $149.74 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $9.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.59, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.36. Woodward, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $91.42 and a fifty-two week high of $160.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.65. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $147.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $138.15.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 29th. The technology company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.33. Woodward had a net margin of 9.50% and a return on equity of 15.26%. The business had revenue of $786.73 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $750.13 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.49 earnings per share. Woodward’s revenue was up 27.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Woodward, Inc. will post 5.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.