Barclays Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) Stock

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) had its target price boosted by analysts at Barclays from $175.00 to $200.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the technology company’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 8.79% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on WWD. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective (down from $186.00) on shares of Woodward in a report on Friday, October 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Woodward from $209.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $226.00 price target (up from $187.00) on shares of Woodward in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $187.44.

Woodward Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of WWD opened at $183.84 on Tuesday. Woodward has a 52-week low of $131.12 and a 52-week high of $201.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $170.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $171.08. The stock has a market cap of $10.87 billion, a PE ratio of 30.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.38.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The technology company reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $855.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $810.39 million. Woodward had a net margin of 11.22% and a return on equity of 17.13%. The company’s revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.33 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Woodward will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.65, for a total transaction of $1,776,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 11,511 shares in the company, valued at $2,044,929.15. This represents a 46.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 47,913 shares of company stock valued at $8,502,604. 1.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WWD. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Woodward by 4.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,421,483 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $415,309,000 after buying an additional 110,569 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Woodward by 2.6% in the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,380,384 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $240,711,000 after buying an additional 34,946 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Woodward by 4.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,278,502 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $219,321,000 after buying an additional 59,290 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in shares of Woodward by 13.3% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 634,698 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $110,679,000 after buying an additional 74,734 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Woodward in the third quarter valued at $99,000,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% 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.