Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Announces $0.25 Quarterly Dividend

Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 22nd, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the technology company on Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st.

Woodward has raised its dividend by an average of 18.9% annually over the last three years. Woodward has a payout ratio of 17.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Woodward to earn $5.95 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 16.8%.

Woodward Stock Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ WWD traded down $1.16 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $164.31. The stock had a trading volume of 281,148 shares, compared to its average volume of 419,407. The company has a market capitalization of $10.01 billion, a PE ratio of 28.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.37. Woodward has a 12 month low of $119.03 and a 12 month high of $188.35. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $164.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $168.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.96.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 29th. The technology company reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $847.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $853.29 million. Woodward had a net margin of 11.47% and a return on equity of 17.16%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.37 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Woodward will post 5.92 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WWD shares. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Woodward from $228.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Woodward from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $170.00 to $190.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective (down previously from $186.00) on shares of Woodward in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Truist Financial upgraded shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $152.00 to $187.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $174.67.

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.