Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $253.1111.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WWD. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price target (up previously from $225.00) on shares of Woodward in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Alembic Global Advisors raised Woodward from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $281.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Woodward from $283.00 to $299.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Woodward from $229.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research cut Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In other news, CEO Charles P. Blankenship sold 5,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.41, for a total transaction of $1,142,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 67,189 shares in the company, valued at $15,346,639.49. The trade was a 6.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Terence J. Voskuil sold 10,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.03, for a total value of $2,310,300.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 4,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,142,443.35. This represents a 66.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 19,296 shares of company stock valued at $4,464,433 in the last 90 days. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Woodward

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Focus Partners Wealth acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter valued at about $294,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 7,649 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,396,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 13.3% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,580 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $653,000 after buying an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward during the 1st quarter valued at about $294,000. Finally, Tribune Investment Group LP acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward during the 1st quarter valued at about $8,577,000. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Woodward Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of WWD opened at $249.30 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $250.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $213.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.30. Woodward has a 1-year low of $146.82 and a 1-year high of $267.45. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The technology company reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $915.45 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $884.98 million. Woodward had a return on equity of 16.57% and a net margin of 11.32%.Woodward’s revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.63 EPS. Woodward has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.500-6.750 EPS. Analysts expect that Woodward will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Woodward’s payout ratio is 17.72%.

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.