Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $195.38.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on WWD shares. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Woodward from $209.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com raised shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Woodward from $197.00 to $193.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd.

Insider Activity at Woodward

In other news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,044,929.15. This trade represents a 46.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total transaction of $430,968.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 20,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,764,325.91. This trade represents a 10.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 60,313 shares of company stock worth $10,752,072 in the last quarter. 0.82% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Woodward

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WWD. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 94.2% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 371 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Woodward in the 4th quarter worth $465,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 70.2% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 417 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 262.1% in the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 7,018 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,168,000 after acquiring an additional 5,080 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,850 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $308,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Price Performance

NASDAQ:WWD opened at $185.25 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $178.99 and a 200-day moving average of $170.42. The company has a market capitalization of $10.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.82, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.39. Woodward has a 52 week low of $133.56 and a 52 week high of $201.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.89.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 25th. The technology company reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $855.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $810.39 million. Woodward had a net margin of 11.22% and a return on equity of 17.13%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Woodward will post 6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.64%.

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.