Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.28

Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, February 3rd,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of 0.28 per share by the technology company on Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This is a boost from Woodward's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25.

Woodward has raised its dividend by an average of 15.4% annually over the last three years. Woodward has a dividend payout ratio of 13.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Woodward to earn $7.09 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 14.1%.

Woodward Stock Performance

Shares of WWD stock traded up $0.93 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $195.22. 693,766 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 495,203. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.23. Woodward has a 1 year low of $134.82 and a 1 year high of $201.64. The company has a market cap of $11.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.40. The company's 50 day moving average is $179.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $170.85.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.21. Woodward had a return on equity of 17.13% and a net margin of 11.22%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.45 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Woodward will post 6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Woodward news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total value of $430,968.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 20,963 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,764,325.91. This trade represents a 10.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 50,313 shares of company stock valued at $9,007,072 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on WWD shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays upped their target price on Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group lifted their price target on Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Woodward from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Woodward presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $197.38.

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.