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

Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $217.75.

WWD has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $193.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Woodward from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $291.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Woodward from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Truist Financial set a $232.00 target price on shares of Woodward in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated 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.

Woodward Stock Performance

Shares of WWD opened at $234.61 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $192.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $185.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.93 billion, a PE ratio of 39.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Woodward has a 52-week low of $145.98 and a 52-week high of $236.87.

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

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Woodward's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.09%.

Insider Activity

In other Woodward news, EVP Terence J. Voskuil sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.03, for a total transaction of $2,310,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Randall Hobbs sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total transaction of $115,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 50,268 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,561,640. This represents a 0.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 64,050 shares of company stock worth $13,267,077. Corporate insiders own 0.82% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Woodward

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WWD. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $221,133,000 after purchasing an additional 751,541 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Woodward in the fourth quarter worth approximately $120,220,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Woodward by 44,162.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 472,284 shares of the technology company's stock worth $86,187,000 after purchasing an additional 471,217 shares in the last quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Woodward by 31.8% in the fourth quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,521,300 shares of the technology company's stock worth $253,175,000 after purchasing an additional 367,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Woodward in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,187,000. 81.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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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