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

Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $168.75.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on WWD shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Woodward from $182.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com downgraded Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Woodward from $156.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Woodward from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors downgraded shares of Woodward from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $148.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, February 1st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 38,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.98, for a total value of $5,494,626.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,680,049.34. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 38,700 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.98, for a total transaction of $5,494,626.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 11,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,680,049.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher Fawzy sold 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $1,540,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $677,040. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 51,200 shares of company stock valued at $7,242,916 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WWD. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Woodward by 79.3% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 199 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Woodward during the 1st quarter worth $31,000. Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in Woodward in the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Woodward during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Woodward in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. 81.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Woodward Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of WWD stock opened at $168.83 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $149.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $139.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.18 billion, a PE ratio of 29.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.62. Woodward has a 1 year low of $105.18 and a 1 year high of $169.99.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The technology company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $835.34 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $807.04 million. Woodward had a return on equity of 16.50% and a net margin of 11.09%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Woodward will post 5.88 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 21st. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.48%.

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.