Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.25

Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the technology company on Wednesday, June 5th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 21st.

Woodward has increased its dividend by an average of 18.9% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 4 consecutive years. Woodward has a dividend payout ratio of 16.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Woodward to earn $5.76 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 17.4%.

Woodward Trading Up 0.6 %

WWD stock traded up $0.84 on Friday, hitting $150.58. 775,947 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 371,608. Woodward has a twelve month low of $91.89 and a twelve month high of $160.79. The business's fifty day moving average is $147.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $138.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.65 and a quick ratio of 1.69.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The technology company reported $1.45 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $786.73 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.13 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.49 earnings per share. Woodward's revenue for the quarter was up 27.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Woodward will post 5.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WWD has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Woodward from $168.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Alembic Global Advisors downgraded shares of Woodward from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $148.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Woodward from $136.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Woodward from $134.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Woodward from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $158.22.

Insider Activity at Woodward

In related news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.86, for a total transaction of $208,290.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at $2,850,934.66. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Woodward news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 38,700 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.98, for a total value of $5,494,626.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,833 shares in the company, valued at $1,680,049.34. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.86, for a total value of $208,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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. Insiders sold a total of 51,200 shares of company stock valued at $7,242,916 over the last three months. 1.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.