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

Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the nine analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $174.67.

WWD has been the subject of several recent research reports. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and set a $160.00 target price (down from $186.00) on shares of Woodward in a research report on Friday, October 4th. StockNews.com lowered Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Truist Financial raised Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $152.00 to $187.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Woodward from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $170.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In related news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.65, for a total value of $1,776,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 11,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,044,929.15. This trade represents a 46.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 27,913 shares of company stock valued at $4,907,304 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Woodward

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WWD. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. bought a new stake in Woodward during the 3rd quarter valued at about $99,000,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 94.2% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 434,385 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $75,735,000 after purchasing an additional 210,746 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC grew its stake in Woodward by 12.3% in the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,345,438 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $207,359,000 after purchasing an additional 147,856 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Woodward by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,421,483 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $415,309,000 after purchasing an additional 110,569 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Woodward by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,835,915 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $899,431,000 after purchasing an additional 77,654 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Stock Up 2.0 %

WWD stock opened at $176.05 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $10.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.96. The business’s 50-day moving average is $167.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $170.87. Woodward has a fifty-two week low of $129.46 and a fifty-two week high of $188.35.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued 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 yield of 0.57%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.72%.

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.