Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the eight brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $195.00.

WWD has been the subject of a number of research reports. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Woodward from $205.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $187.00 price objective on shares of Woodward and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Woodward from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Woodward from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.52, for a total transaction of $536,256.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 20,965 shares in the company, valued at $4,015,216.80. This represents a 11.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.50, for a total transaction of $1,845,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,855,506.50. This trade represents a 39.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 30,700 shares of company stock worth $5,751,700 over the last 90 days. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Woodward by 1.5% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 637,888 shares of the technology company's stock worth $116,408,000 after acquiring an additional 9,386 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its position in Woodward by 80.3% in the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 725 shares of the technology company's stock worth $132,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its position in Woodward by 16.0% in the first quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 153,150 shares of the technology company's stock worth $27,948,000 after acquiring an additional 21,150 shares during the period. Ground Swell Capital LLC bought a new position in Woodward in the first quarter worth approximately $263,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in Woodward by 1.6% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 3,765 shares of the technology company's stock worth $687,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Woodward Price Performance

WWD stock opened at $203.33 on Wednesday. Woodward has a 1 year low of $145.98 and a 1 year high of $204.77. The company has a market cap of $12.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.06, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $180.51 and a 200 day moving average of $179.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.19.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The technology company reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.25. Woodward had a net margin of 11.18% and a return on equity of 16.76%. The company had revenue of $883.63 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $838.61 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.62 earnings per share. Woodward's revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Woodward will post 6.15 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 22nd. Woodward's payout ratio is 18.09%.

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.

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