Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lessened its stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD – Get Rating) by 7.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,686 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 600 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky's holdings in Woodward were worth $960,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Woodward by 15.4% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,749,193 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $718,131,000 after purchasing an additional 768,984 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Woodward by 41.1% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,134,296 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $266,595,000 after purchasing an additional 621,559 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Woodward by 15.8% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 860,628 shares of the technology company's stock worth $107,500,000 after acquiring an additional 117,421 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Woodward by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 844,050 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $92,389,000 after purchasing an additional 51,623 shares during the period. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Woodward by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 803,105 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $100,316,000 after purchasing an additional 54,574 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on WWD. Truist Financial cut Woodward from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $121.00 to $88.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Woodward from $117.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a "hold" rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Woodward in a research note on Wednesday, September 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Woodward presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $108.83.

Woodward Stock Down 2.1 %

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.27). The business had revenue of $614.33 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $625.04 million. Woodward had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 7.24%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.74 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Woodward, Inc. will post 2.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 14th will be issued a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 10th. Woodward's payout ratio is 29.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Woodward news, CFO Mark D. Hartman sold 5,300 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.21, for a total value of $488,713.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 2,585 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $238,362.85. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Charles P. Blankenship bought 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 31st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $92.97 per share, for a total transaction of $46,485.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 38,600 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,588,642. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Mark D. Hartman sold 5,300 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.21, for a total value of $488,713.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 2,585 shares in the company, valued at $238,362.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders acquired 17,100 shares of company stock valued at $1,622,371. Corporate insiders own 3.90% of the company's stock.

About Woodward

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Woodward, Inc designs, manufactures, and services control solutions for the aerospace and industrial markets worldwide. The company operates through 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.

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