Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) Raised to "Strong-Buy" at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Free Report) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Tuesday.

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

Woodward Trading Up 0.5 %

Woodward stock traded up $0.93 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $195.22. The stock had a trading volume of 693,766 shares, compared to its average volume of 463,105. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm has a market cap of $11.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.40. Woodward has a 52-week low of $134.82 and a 52-week high of $201.64. The company has a fifty day moving average of $179.63 and a 200 day moving average of $170.85.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.21. Woodward had a return on equity of 16.76% and a net margin of 11.18%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.45 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Woodward will post 6.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. This is a positive change from Woodward's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Woodward's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.65, for a total value of $1,776,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total value of $430,968.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 20,963 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,764,325.91. This trade represents a 10.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 50,313 shares of company stock worth $9,007,072. Corporate insiders own 0.82% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Truist Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Woodward by 26.5% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,825 shares of the technology company's stock worth $318,000 after acquiring an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Woodward in the second quarter valued at about $1,597,000. Williams & Novak LLC acquired a new stake in Woodward during the third quarter worth about $336,000. CWM LLC raised its stake in Woodward by 16.2% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 14,354 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,462,000 after purchasing an additional 2,005 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Woodward by 101.6% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 246 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.