Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) had its price target boosted by The Goldman Sachs Group from $159.00 to $201.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a buy rating on the technology company's stock.
WWD has been the subject of several other reports. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Woodward from $168.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Alembic Global Advisors cut shares of Woodward from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and set a $148.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Woodward from $165.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Woodward from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Woodward from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $158.22.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on Woodward
Woodward Price Performance
Shares of NASDAQ:WWD traded up $3.33 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $148.89. 465,215 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 370,603. Woodward has a 52 week low of $91.42 and a 52 week high of $160.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.65. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $145.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $137.24. The company has a market cap of $8.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.36.
Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 29th. The technology company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.33. Woodward had a net margin of 9.50% and a return on equity of 15.26%. The company had revenue of $786.73 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.13 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.49 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 27.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Woodward will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Woodward Increases Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 20th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 16th. This is a positive change from Woodward's previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Woodward's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.10%.
Insider Activity at Woodward
In other news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 38,700 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.98, for a total value of $5,494,626.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 11,833 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,680,049.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 38,700 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.98, for a total value of $5,494,626.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 11,833 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,680,049.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,500 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.86, for a total transaction of $208,290.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,850,934.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 51,200 shares of company stock valued at $7,242,916. 1.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Woodward
Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 28,230 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,843,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 79.3% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 199 shares of the technology company's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 22.8% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 491 shares of the technology company's stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 14,510 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,975,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bison Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Woodward by 2.0% during the third quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,393 shares of the technology company's stock worth $670,000 after buying an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.18% of the company's stock.
Woodward Company Profile
(
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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.
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