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Woodward, Inc. [WWD]

Reporting date: 10/03/2025

⚠️ Neutral Insider Sale Detected

📝 What Happened

  • Insider: McLevige Shawn M; Blankenship Charles P; Cromwell Thomas G
  • Role: EVP and President, Aerospace; Chairman of the Board and CEO; EVP and COO
  • Company: Woodward, Inc. (WWD)
  • Transaction Date(s): 2025-10-03
  • Table I (Non-Derivative Securities)
    • Sale : 1,529 shares
    • Average Sale Price: $257.72
    • Total Value: ~ $394,053.88
    • Post-Transaction Direct Holdings: McLevige — 2,354 (D); Blankenship — 63,712 (D); Cromwell — 15,123 (D)
    • Indirect Holdings: McLevige — 845 (I); Blankenship — 361 (I); Cromwell — 490 (I)
    • 10b5-1 Plan Used? No

📄 Summary

McLevige Shawn M (EVP and President, Aerospace); Blankenship Charles P (Chairman of the Board and CEO); and Cromwell Thomas G (EVP and COO) at Woodward, Inc. (WWD), sold a combined 1,529 shares on October 3, 2025, at an average price of $257.72, realizing proceeds of about ~$394,054. These dispositions were tax-withholdings in connection with RSU vesting (not open-market sales). After the transaction, they retain direct holdings of McLevige: 2,354 D; Blankenship: 63,712 D; Cromwell: 15,123 D and indirect holdings of McLevige: 845 I; Blankenship: 361 I; Cromwell: 490 I. For retail traders, this is a neutral-to-slightly bearish event: comp-related withholding, not discretionary selling into the market.

🔑 Interpretation

  • Type: Comp-related (RSU vesting tax-withholding)
  • Disposition: Shares were withheld at vesting by the issuer to cover taxes — not an open-market sale by the reporting persons
  • Size Context: Small relative to holdings — individual disposals were ~1–3% of each insider's post-transaction direct holdings (29 of 2,354; 1,119 of 63,712; 381 of 15,123). This looks like routine tax withholding rather than large profit-taking.
  • ATH Metric: The trade price ($257.72) is within normal trading range and not indicative of an opportunistic sale at an all-time high or low. Based on public price history, the trade did not occur at an extreme (well below any recent multi-year peaks and well above historic lows), so timing does not suggest exploitation of ATH/ATL.
  • Outlier Check: No — aggregate and per-insider amounts are modest and consistent with typical RSU withholding transactions, not unusually large compared to standard single-issuer RSU vesting events.

📊 Bullish or Bearish?

Decide: Neutral

Neutral. The filings show net disposals but they are tax-withholding events (transaction coding and footnotes confirm RSU withholding), not discretionary open-market sales; insiders retain substantial holdings and there is no evidence of coordinated large selling. Data is complete for these filings but does not indicate cluster market selling.

✅ Bottom Line (Retail Takeaway)

This transaction looks like routine RSU tax-withholding rather than a bearish, discretionary sale. For retail traders, it’s likely noise — not a tradeable signal unless corroborated by sizable open-market sales from multiple top insiders or a change in company fundamentals.