Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Short Interest Update

Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) saw a significant decline in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 757,600 shares, a decline of 21.0% from the December 15th total of 959,200 shares. Approximately 1.4% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 449,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.7 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WWD. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Woodward by 3.5% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,758 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its position in Woodward by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 1,790 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $298,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Commerce Bank lifted its holdings in Woodward by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 4,624 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $793,000 after buying an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its position in Woodward by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 28,734 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,928,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pallas Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Woodward by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,413 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $402,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the period. 81.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on WWD shares. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and set a $160.00 price target (down from $186.00) on shares of Woodward in a report on Friday, October 4th. Barclays raised their target price on Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Woodward from $197.00 to $193.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Woodward from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $190.11.

Woodward Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WWD opened at $184.10 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $175.17 and its 200-day moving average is $169.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.89. Woodward has a 52 week low of $133.56 and a 52 week high of $201.64. The company has a market capitalization of $10.89 billion, a PE ratio of 30.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.39.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The technology company reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.19. Woodward had a net margin of 11.22% and a return on equity of 17.13%. The firm had revenue of $855.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $810.39 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.33 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Woodward will post 5.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.64%.

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.