Wall Street Zen Downgrades Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) to Buy

Key Points

• Woodward's stock rating has been downgraded from "strong-buy" to "buy" by Wall Street Zen, with other analysts also adjusting their ratings and price objectives.
• The company reported earnings of $1.76 per share, surpassing estimates, and saw an 8.0% year-over-year revenue growth, indicating solid financial performance.
• Insider selling activity has occurred recently, with executives reducing their stock positions, potentially indicating a cautious outlook despite the company's strong performance.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Woodward from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $291.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Zacks Research lowered shares of Woodward from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Alembic Global Advisors raised shares of Woodward from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $281.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $245.00 price objective (up previously from $225.00) on shares of Woodward in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Woodward from $200.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $253.11.

Woodward Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WWD traded up $2.48 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $239.97. The company had a trading volume of 529,944 shares, compared to its average volume of 486,977. 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 business's 50-day simple moving average is $249.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $218.92. Woodward has a 12 month low of $146.82 and a 12 month high of $267.45. The firm has a market cap of $14.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.97, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.27.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The technology company reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.14. Woodward had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 16.57%. The firm had revenue of $915.45 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $884.98 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.63 earnings per share. The company's quarterly 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, analysts predict that Woodward will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Woodward news, EVP Randall Hobbs sold 846 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 48,981 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,245,250. The trade was a 1.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,750 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $244.32, for a total transaction of $427,560.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 20,963 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,121,680.16. This represents 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 insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Woodward

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Woodward by 427.0% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 6,830 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,671,000 after buying an additional 5,534 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in shares of Woodward by 35.6% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 25,688 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $6,300,000 after buying an additional 6,741 shares during the period. State of Wyoming grew its holdings in shares of Woodward by 114.5% in the 2nd quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 3,290 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $806,000 after buying an additional 1,756 shares during the period. KP Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Woodward by 24.2% in the 2nd quarter. KP Management LLC now owns 20,500 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $5,024,000 after buying an additional 4,000 shares during the period. Finally, FORA Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Woodward in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,353,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.