Brokerages Set Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Target Price at $168.75

Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $173.13.

A number of research firms have issued reports on WWD. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Woodward from $159.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. StockNews.com lowered Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. UBS Group raised their target price 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Woodward from $182.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on Woodward from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 6,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.01, for a total value of $1,002,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 17,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,914,324.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 38,700 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 11,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,680,049.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.01, for a total transaction of $1,002,060.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,914,324.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 57,200 shares of company stock worth $8,244,976. Corporate insiders own 1.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Woodward

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Woodward by 290.9% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 7,946 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,225,000 after acquiring an additional 5,913 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its stake in shares of Woodward by 3.2% during the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 3,173 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $489,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its holdings in Woodward by 1.1% in the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 52,772 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $8,133,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in Woodward by 89,808.3% in the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 21,578 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,326,000 after buying an additional 21,554 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S acquired a new position in Woodward during the 1st quarter valued at about $106,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WWD opened at $173.15 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The stock has a market cap of $10.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.27, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.31. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $150.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $140.07. Woodward has a 52 week low of $105.18 and a 52 week high of $173.99.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 29th. The technology company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $835.34 million during 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 quarterly revenue was up 16.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.01 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Woodward will post 5.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 21st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.48%.

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.