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

Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) have received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the eight analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $228.88.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WWD. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Woodward from $175.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Woodward from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Truist Financial set a $267.00 price objective on Woodward and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Woodward from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $291.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Woodward from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th.

Woodward Stock Performance

Shares of WWD opened at $248.82 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.95. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $218.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $193.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.26. Woodward has a 52 week low of $145.98 and a 52 week high of $248.84.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The technology company reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.25. Woodward had a return on equity of 16.86% and a net margin of 11.36%. The firm had revenue of $883.63 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $838.61 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.62 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Woodward will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. Woodward's payout ratio is 18.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In other news, EVP Terence J. Voskuil sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.03, for a total value of $2,310,300.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 4,945 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,142,443.35. This represents a 66.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles P. Blankenship sold 2,450 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.85, for a total transaction of $565,582.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 64,739 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,944,998.15. The trade was a 3.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 41,250 shares of company stock worth $9,035,789. 0.82% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WWD. Newport Trust Company LLC increased its stake in Woodward by 2.3% in the first quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC now owns 2,193,238 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $400,244,000 after acquiring an additional 49,481 shares during the last quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Woodward by 31.8% in the fourth quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,521,300 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $253,175,000 after acquiring an additional 367,300 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its stake in Woodward by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,418,123 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $236,004,000 after acquiring an additional 38,774 shares during the last quarter. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. increased its stake in Woodward by 130.2% in the fourth quarter. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. now owns 1,328,765 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $221,133,000 after acquiring an additional 751,541 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Woodward by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,302,237 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $216,771,000 after acquiring an additional 23,735 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.18% of the company's stock.

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.

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