Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Thursday.

WWD has been the topic of several other reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $170.00 to $190.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Woodward from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $160.00 target price (down from $186.00) on shares of Woodward in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $152.00 to $187.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Woodward from $228.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.67.

Woodward Trading Down 1.9 %

NASDAQ:WWD opened at $169.55 on Thursday. Woodward has a one year low of $126.31 and a one year high of $188.35. The company has a market cap of $10.12 billion, a PE ratio of 28.35, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.38. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $167.09 and a 200-day moving average of $170.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.96 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st 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 Thursday, November 21st. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.72%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.65, for a total transaction of $1,776,500.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 11,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,044,929.15. This represents a 46.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 27,913 shares of company stock valued at $4,907,304 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Woodward

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Woodward by 743.5% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 223,639 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $34,452,000 after acquiring an additional 197,125 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board bought a new position in shares of Woodward in the 1st quarter worth $1,301,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Woodward by 16.9% in the 1st quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 26,042 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,011,000 after buying an additional 3,759 shares during the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Woodward in the 1st quarter worth $1,911,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Woodward by 114.4% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 17,038 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,971,000 after buying an additional 9,092 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

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.