Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.28 Per Share

Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, February 3rd,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given 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 dividend yield of 0.60%. This is a positive change 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% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of WWD opened at $187.90 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $179.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $170.49. The company has a market capitalization of $11.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.40. Woodward has a 1-year low of $133.56 and a 1-year high of $201.64. 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 (NASDAQ:WWD) 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 previous year, the firm earned $1.45 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Woodward will post 6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of Woodward 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 20,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,764,325.91. This trade represents a 10.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.85, for a total value of $1,818,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,093,275.35. The trade was a 46.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 60,313 shares of company stock valued at $10,752,072 over the last quarter. 0.82% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays raised their target price 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Woodward from $197.00 to $193.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Woodward from $209.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $195.38.

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.