Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Receives $187.44 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nine analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $187.44.

WWD has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Woodward from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective (down from $186.00) on shares of Woodward in a research note on Friday, October 4th. StockNews.com raised Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Woodward from $209.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th.

Insider Activity at Woodward

In other news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total transaction of $430,968.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 20,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,764,325.91. This trade represents a 10.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.85, for a total value of $1,818,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 11,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,093,275.35. The trade was a 46.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 60,313 shares of company stock worth $10,752,072 in the last ninety days. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Woodward

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in shares of Woodward in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC acquired a new stake in Woodward in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Woodward in the second quarter valued at $37,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Woodward during the third quarter worth $41,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 101.6% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 246 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Stock Performance

Shares of WWD stock opened at $168.70 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.23. Woodward has a fifty-two week low of $131.12 and a fifty-two week high of $201.64. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $172.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $170.48. The firm has a market cap of $9.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.07, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.38.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 25th. The technology company reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $855.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $810.39 million. Woodward had a return on equity of 17.13% and a net margin of 11.22%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.33 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Woodward will post 5.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. Woodward’s payout ratio is 16.64%.

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.