Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nine research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $187.44.

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $226.00 price objective (up from $187.00) on shares of Woodward in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays increased their target price on Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Woodward from $209.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Woodward from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd.

Woodward Stock Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ WWD opened at $175.10 on Friday. Woodward has a 1-year low of $131.12 and a 1-year high of $201.64. The company has a market capitalization of $10.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.13, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.38. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $171.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $170.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The technology company reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $855.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $810.39 million. Woodward had a return on equity of 17.13% and a net margin of 11.22%. The business’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.33 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Woodward will post 5.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total transaction of $430,968.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,963 shares in the company, valued at $3,764,325.91. This represents a 10.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.65, for a total value of $1,776,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 11,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,044,929.15. The trade was a 46.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 60,313 shares of company stock worth $10,752,072. 1.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Woodward

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in shares of Woodward in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC acquired a new position in Woodward during the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Woodward in the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward in the third quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of Woodward by 101.6% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 246 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. 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.