StockNews.com Lowers Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) to Hold

StockNews.com lowered shares of Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Monday morning.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $170.00 to $190.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial upgraded Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $152.00 to $187.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Woodward from $228.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Woodward from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and set a $160.00 price objective (down from $186.00) on shares of Woodward in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $174.67.

Woodward Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ WWD opened at $165.63 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $10.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.96, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.37. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $163.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $168.30. Woodward has a 12-month low of $119.03 and a 12-month high of $188.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The technology company reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $847.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $853.29 million. Woodward had a return on equity of 17.16% and a net margin of 11.47%. Woodward’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Woodward will post 5.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.48%.

Institutional Trading of Woodward

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Woodward by 94.2% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 434,385 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $75,735,000 after purchasing an additional 210,746 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC grew its holdings in Woodward by 12.3% in the 1st quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,345,438 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $207,359,000 after buying an additional 147,856 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,835,915 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $899,431,000 after acquiring an additional 77,654 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 13.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 634,698 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $110,679,000 after acquiring an additional 74,734 shares during the period. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 25.4% in the first quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 226,909 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $34,971,000 after acquiring an additional 46,005 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

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.