Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the nine brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $184.67.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WWD. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $170.00 to $190.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $226.00 price target (up from $187.00) on shares of Woodward in a report on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Woodward from $209.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd.

Woodward Stock Performance

WWD opened at $187.29 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $168.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $170.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.96 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The company has a market capitalization of $11.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.38. Woodward has a 1-year low of $129.46 and a 1-year high of $201.64.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is 16.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In other Woodward news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.50, for a total transaction of $1,745,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 11,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,008,669.50. The trade was a 46.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 27,913 shares of company stock valued at $4,907,304 in the last three months. 1.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Woodward

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. purchased a new position in Woodward in the third quarter valued at about $99,000,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Woodward by 94.2% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 434,385 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $75,735,000 after buying an additional 210,746 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its holdings in Woodward by 12.3% in the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,345,438 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $207,359,000 after buying an additional 147,856 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Woodward by 4.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,421,483 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $415,309,000 after acquiring an additional 110,569 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Woodward by 1.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,835,915 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $899,431,000 after acquiring an additional 77,654 shares during the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.