Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $197.38.

WWD has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th.

Woodward Stock Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:WWD opened at $184.59 on Friday. Woodward has a fifty-two week low of $136.25 and a fifty-two week high of $201.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.40. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $182.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.29.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 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 period last year, the company posted $1.45 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Woodward will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction 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 owns 20,963 shares in the company, valued at $3,764,325.91. The trade was a 10.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.54, for a total value of $1,795,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 11,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,066,684.94. This represents a 46.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 22,400 shares of company stock valued at $4,044,868 in the last 90 days. 0.82% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Woodward

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WWD. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Woodward by 17,072.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 76,760 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $13,165,000 after buying an additional 76,313 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Woodward by 100.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,869 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,207,000 after buying an additional 6,456 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its stake in Woodward by 4.7% during the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 6,933 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,189,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Woodward by 68.9% during the third quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,304 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $372,000 after purchasing an additional 940 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its stake in Woodward by 1.8% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 29,376 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,038,000 after purchasing an additional 521 shares during the period. 81.18% of the stock is currently 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.