Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Receives $195.38 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eight research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $197.38.

A number of research analysts recently commented on WWD shares. Truist Financial increased their target price on Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays increased their price objective on Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th.

Woodward Stock Performance

Shares of WWD opened at $195.22 on Monday. 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 company has a market cap of $11.59 billion, a PE ratio of 32.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.40. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $179.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $170.82.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter last year, the firm earned $1.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Woodward will post 6.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. This is an increase from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Woodward’s payout ratio is presently 16.75%.

Insider Activity at Woodward

In other news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of the business’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 transaction, the director now directly owns 20,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,764,325.91. The trade was a 10.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.99, for a total value of $1,799,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,071,864.89. The trade was a 46.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 40,313 shares of company stock worth $7,230,572 in the last three months. 0.82% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Woodward in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $99,000,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Woodward by 135.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 992,189 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $170,170,000 after purchasing an additional 570,124 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Woodward during the fourth quarter valued at $31,187,000. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT bought a new stake in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter valued at $20,045,000. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Woodward by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,421,483 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $415,309,000 after buying an additional 110,569 shares during the period. 81.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.