Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) Price Target Raised to $232.00

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) had its price target lifted by UBS Group from $216.00 to $232.00 in a research note published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on WWD. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Barclays increased their price objective 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, Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $197.38.

Woodward Trading Up 2.3 %

WWD stock opened at $194.29 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.89. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $179.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $170.85. Woodward has a 52 week low of $134.82 and a 52 week high of $201.64. The company has a market capitalization of $11.49 billion, a PE ratio of 32.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.40.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.45 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Woodward will post 6 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. This is an increase from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.76%.

Insider Activity at Woodward

In related news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 7,913 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.13, for a total value of $1,385,803.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 11,511 shares in the company, valued at $2,015,921.43. This trade represents a 40.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $430,968.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 20,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,764,325.91. This trade represents a 10.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 50,313 shares of company stock worth $9,007,072 in the last quarter. 0.82% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in Woodward during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of Woodward by 101.6% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 246 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the period. 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.