Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) Lowered to Hold Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Tuesday.

WWD has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $197.38.

Woodward Trading Up 2.4 %

NASDAQ WWD traded up $4.40 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $188.99. The company had a trading volume of 330,842 shares, compared to its average volume of 451,560. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Woodward has a one year low of $140.43 and a one year high of $201.64. The company has a market cap of $11.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.40. The company's fifty day moving average is $182.97 and its 200-day moving average is $173.29.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.21. Woodward had a net margin of 11.18% and a return on equity of 16.76%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.45 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Woodward will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is a boost from Woodward's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. Woodward's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.76%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.85, for a total transaction of $1,818,500.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 11,511 shares in the company, valued at $2,093,275.35. This trade represents a 46.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total transaction of $430,968.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 20,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,764,325.91. The trade was a 10.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 22,400 shares of company stock worth $4,044,868. Company insiders own 0.82% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at $124,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at $186,000. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at $61,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of Woodward by 19.0% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 164,140 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $27,316,000 after purchasing an additional 26,249 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Woodward by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 3,116 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $519,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.