Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Wednesday.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Truist Financial increased their target price 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 raised their price objective on shares of Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays raised their price objective 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $197.38.

Woodward Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Woodward stock opened at $193.27 on Wednesday. Woodward has a 12-month low of $134.82 and a 12-month high of $201.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The stock has a market cap of $11.47 billion, a PE ratio of 32.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a 50-day moving average of $180.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $170.99.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.21. Woodward had a net margin of 11.18% and a return on equity of 16.76%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.45 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Woodward will post 6.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Woodward news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.85, for a total value of $1,818,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 11,511 shares in the company, valued at $2,093,275.35. This trade represents a 46.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on 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 owns 20,963 shares in the company, 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 40,313 shares of company stock valued at $7,230,572. Company insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new stake in Woodward in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC acquired a new stake in Woodward in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. NBT Bank N A NY acquired a new stake in Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Woodward in the third quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

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.