Woodward, Inc. (WWD) To Go Ex-Dividend on February 20th

Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, February 3rd,RTT News reports. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This is an increase from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25.

Woodward has increased its dividend by an average of 15.4% per year over the last three years. Woodward has a payout ratio of 13.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WWD opened at $184.50 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.91 billion, a PE ratio of 30.70, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $179.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $170.55.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.21. Woodward had a net margin of 11.22% and a return on equity of 17.13%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.45 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Woodward will post 6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 11,511 shares in the company, valued at $2,093,275.35. The trade was a 46.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total transaction of $430,968.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 20,963 shares in the company, valued at $3,764,325.91. This represents a 10.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 60,313 shares of company stock valued at $10,752,072. Insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on WWD shares. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $197.38.

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.