Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

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.

Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) have received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the eleven brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $253.1111.

WWD has been the topic of several research reports. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded Woodward from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $281.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Northcoast Research upgraded Woodward to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $245.00 price objective (up previously from $225.00) on shares of Woodward in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Woodward from $267.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, June 3rd.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In other news, EVP Randall Hobbs sold 846 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $211,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 48,981 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,245,250. The trade was a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,750 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $244.32, for a total value of $427,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 20,963 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,121,680.16. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 3,096 shares of company stock valued at $759,060. 0.82% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in Woodward by 191.2% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 166 shares of the technology company's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its holdings in Woodward by 2,314.3% during the 1st quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 169 shares of the technology company's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Woodward by 189.8% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 171 shares of the technology company's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 116.7% in the 1st quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 182 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Virtus Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Woodward in the 1st quarter valued at about $38,000. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Woodward Stock Performance

Shares of WWD stock opened at $239.88 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.27. The business's 50 day moving average is $249.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $218.25. 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 12-month low of $146.82 and a 12-month high of $267.45.

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

Woodward Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Woodward's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.72%.

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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