Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) Stock Rating Upgraded by Alembic Global Advisors

Key Points

• Alembic Global Advisors upgraded Woodward from a "neutral" to an "overweight" rating with a price target of $281.00, indicating a potential upside of 14.73% from its current price.
• The consensus rating for Woodward remains a "Moderate Buy" with several brokerages setting price targets ranging from $200.00 to $291.00.
• Woodward recently reported earnings of $1.76 per share, which exceeded analysts' expectations and showed a year-over-year revenue increase of 8.0%.

Alembic Global Advisors upgraded shares of Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $281.00 price objective on the technology company's stock.

WWD has been the topic of a number of other research reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Woodward from $283.00 to $299.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Woodward from $267.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Woodward from $175.00 to $193.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Woodward from $229.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $245.00 price objective (up previously from $225.00) on shares of Woodward in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $253.11.

Woodward Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WWD traded down $1.6350 on Wednesday, reaching $246.4050. The company's stock had a trading volume of 105,587 shares, compared to its average volume of 519,878. The stock's 50-day moving average is $249.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $212.05. Woodward has a 52-week low of $146.82 and a 52-week high of $267.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.05, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.30.

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

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Woodward's payout ratio is currently 17.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Charles P. Blankenship sold 5,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.98, for a total transaction of $1,079,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 73,117 shares in the company, valued at $15,791,809.66. The trade was a 6.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Terence J. Voskuil sold 10,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was 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 $1,142,443.35. This represents a 66.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,296 shares of company stock worth $6,611,283 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.82% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Woodward

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Focus Partners Wealth acquired a new stake in Woodward during the fourth quarter worth approximately $294,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Woodward by 1.1% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 7,649 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,396,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in Woodward by 13.3% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,580 shares of the technology company's stock worth $653,000 after acquiring an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in Woodward during the first quarter worth approximately $294,000. Finally, Tribune Investment Group LP acquired a new stake in Woodward during the first quarter worth approximately $8,577,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company's stock.

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.