Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Short Interest Update

Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 757,600 shares, a decrease of 21.0% from the December 15th total of 959,200 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 449,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.7 days. Currently, 1.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Transactions at Woodward

In related news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 20,963 shares in the company, valued at $3,764,325.91. The trade was a 10.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.50, for a total value of $1,745,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,008,669.50. This represents a 46.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 60,313 shares of company stock valued at $10,752,072 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Woodward

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Woodward by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,421,483 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $415,309,000 after purchasing an additional 110,569 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC raised its holdings in Woodward by 2.6% in the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,380,384 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $240,711,000 after purchasing an additional 34,946 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Woodward by 4.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,278,502 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $219,321,000 after buying an additional 59,290 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 135.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 992,189 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $170,170,000 after buying an additional 570,124 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its position in shares of Woodward by 13.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 634,698 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $110,679,000 after buying an additional 74,734 shares during the period. 81.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Woodward Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ WWD opened at $183.66 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $10.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.39. Woodward has a fifty-two week low of $133.56 and a fifty-two week high of $201.64. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $175.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $169.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.89.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The technology company reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $855.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $810.39 million. Woodward had a return on equity of 17.13% and a net margin of 11.22%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.33 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Woodward will post 6.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.64%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WWD shares. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group raised their price objective on Woodward from $209.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Woodward from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Woodward from $197.00 to $193.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $160.00 price target (down from $186.00) on shares of Woodward in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $190.11.

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.