Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Receives $253.11 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Key Points

• Woodward, Inc. has received an average analyst rating of "Moderate Buy", with six brokerages recommending a buy and five suggesting a hold.
• Recent research upgrades include a target price increase to $281.00 from Alembic and $294.00 from Truist Financial.
• Woodward declared a quarterly dividend of $0.28 per share, with a yield of 0.5%, reflecting a stable financial outlook.

Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) has earned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the eleven research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $253.1111.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Woodward from $267.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Woodward from $229.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Woodward from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Woodward from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $291.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Finally, Northcoast Research raised shares of Woodward to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th.

Insider Activity at Woodward

In related news, EVP Randall Hobbs sold 846 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $211,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 48,981 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,245,250. This trade represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,750 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $244.32, for a total transaction of $427,560.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 20,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,121,680.16. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Woodward

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Focus Partners Wealth bought a new position in shares of Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $294,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Woodward by 1.1% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 7,649 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,396,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Woodward by 13.3% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,580 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $653,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of Woodward in the first quarter valued at approximately $294,000. Finally, Tribune Investment Group LP bought a new position in shares of Woodward in the first quarter valued at approximately $8,577,000. Institutional investors own 81.18% of the company's stock.

Woodward Trading Down 0.8%

WWD stock traded down $1.86 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $238.11. 1,312,353 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 492,512. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Woodward has a 52-week low of $146.82 and a 52-week high of $267.45. The company has a market cap of $14.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.27. The stock's fifty day moving average is $248.95 and its 200-day moving average is $219.33.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 28th. The technology company reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $915.45 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $884.98 million. Woodward had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 16.57%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.63 earnings per share. Woodward has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.500-6.750 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Woodward will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. Woodward's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.72%.

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.