Thomas G. Cromwell Sells 3,300 Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Stock

Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 3,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.36, for a total value of $641,388.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,008,109.72. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Woodward Stock Down 0.1 %

WWD opened at $188.03 on Friday. Woodward, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.45 and a 52 week high of $201.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $186.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.47. The company has a market capitalization of $11.16 billion, a PE ratio of 31.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.39.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.21. Woodward had a return on equity of 16.76% and a net margin of 11.18%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.45 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is an increase from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.76%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Woodward

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in shares of Woodward in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. NBT Bank N A NY purchased a new position in shares of Woodward in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Mather Group LLC. raised its position in shares of Woodward by 44.8% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 278 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter worth $57,000. 81.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WWD. Barclays boosted their price objective on Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Woodward presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $197.38.

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.