Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) Price Target Raised to $172.00

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) had its price target upped by Wells Fargo & Company from $156.00 to $172.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. Alembic Global Advisors downgraded Woodward from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and set a $148.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $168.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Woodward from $159.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Woodward from $134.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Woodward from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Tuesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Woodward has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $168.75.

Woodward Trading Up 0.5 %

WWD opened at $168.83 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $149.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $139.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The company has a market cap of $10.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.31. Woodward has a fifty-two week low of $105.18 and a fifty-two week high of $169.99.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The technology company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $835.34 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $807.04 million. Woodward had a return on equity of 16.50% and a net margin of 11.09%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.01 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Woodward will post 5.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 21st. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.48%.

Insider Activity

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Woodward

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WWD. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Woodward by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,758,261 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $783,872,000 after buying an additional 37,011 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Woodward by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,062,665 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $132,047,000 after buying an additional 62,897 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 998,396 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $124,061,000 after acquiring an additional 61,216 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Woodward in the 4th quarter valued at about $84,157,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in Woodward by 37.6% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 524,683 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $71,425,000 after purchasing an additional 143,410 shares during the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.