Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Receives $152.89 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $152.89.

Several brokerages have commented on WWD. Alembic Global Advisors cut shares of Woodward from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $148.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Woodward from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $105.00 to $153.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Woodward from $165.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Woodward from $168.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Woodward from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th.

Woodward Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WWD opened at $145.56 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $8.78 billion, a PE ratio of 30.71, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a current ratio of 2.65, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Woodward has a 1-year low of $91.42 and a 1-year high of $160.79. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $145.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $137.07.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The technology company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $786.73 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.13 million. Woodward had a net margin of 9.50% and a return on equity of 15.26%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.49 EPS. Research analysts predict that Woodward will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This is a boost from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 16th. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In other Woodward news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 38,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.98, for a total value of $5,494,626.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,680,049.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Woodward news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 38,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.98, for a total value of $5,494,626.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,680,049.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.86, for a total transaction of $208,290.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at $2,850,934.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 51,200 shares of company stock valued at $7,242,916 in the last three months. 1.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Woodward by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 28,230 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,843,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 79.3% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 199 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 22.8% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 491 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Red Spruce Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Red Spruce Capital LLC now owns 17,917 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,226,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Michigan Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 14,510 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,975,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 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.