Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the nine brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $174.67.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WWD. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Woodward from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and set a $160.00 price target (down from $186.00) on shares of Woodward in a research report on Friday, October 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Woodward from $228.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial raised shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $152.00 to $187.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th.

Institutional Trading of Woodward

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 2.4% in the second quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 3,277 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $571,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 3.0% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 3,268 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $570,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 13.0% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 870 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $133,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 7.7% in the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,699 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $296,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 101.6% in the third 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. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Woodward Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of WWD opened at $165.30 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $165.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $169.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.90, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Woodward has a 1-year low of $120.82 and a 1-year high of $188.35.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The technology company reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $847.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $853.29 million. Woodward had a net margin of 11.47% and a return on equity of 17.16%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.37 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Woodward will post 5.92 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.48%.

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.