Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) Downgraded to “Hold” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Truist Financial lifted their price objective 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 objective on shares of Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $197.38.

Woodward Stock Performance

Shares of WWD stock opened at $182.85 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.89. The company has a market capitalization of $10.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.40. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $182.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $173.13. Woodward has a 52 week low of $136.25 and a 52 week high of $201.64.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 prior year, the firm earned $1.45 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Woodward will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. This is a boost from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Woodward’s payout ratio is 18.76%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total value of $430,968.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 20,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,764,325.91. The trade was a 10.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,093,275.35. This trade represents a 46.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,400 shares of company stock valued at $5,844,768 over the last ninety days. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Woodward by 135.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 992,189 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $170,170,000 after purchasing an additional 570,124 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Woodward during the third quarter worth about $2,547,000. PEAK6 Investments LLC acquired a new position in Woodward during the third quarter worth about $2,448,000. Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in Woodward by 12.1% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 64,153 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $11,003,000 after acquiring an additional 6,917 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ingalls & Snyder LLC acquired a new position in Woodward during the third quarter worth about $1,698,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

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.