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

Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) have earned an average rating of “Hold” from the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $187.44.

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Barclays upped their price objective on Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and issued a $160.00 price target (down from $186.00) on shares of Woodward in a research note on Friday, October 4th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $209.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, 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.

Insider Activity at Woodward

In related news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total transaction of $430,968.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,963 shares in the company, valued at $3,764,325.91. This represents a 10.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.65, for a total transaction of $1,776,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,044,929.15. The trade was a 46.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 60,313 shares of company stock valued at $10,752,072 over the last three months. 1.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of WWD. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in Woodward during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Woodward during the second quarter valued at about $37,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Woodward during the 3rd quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Woodward by 101.6% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 246 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Woodward Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of WWD opened at $175.10 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $10.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.89. Woodward has a 52 week low of $131.12 and a 52 week high of $201.64. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $171.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $170.88.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 25th. The technology company reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $855.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $810.39 million. Woodward had a return on equity of 17.13% and a net margin of 11.22%. The business’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.33 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Woodward will post 5.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.64%.

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.