Woodward, Inc. (WWD) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.25 on June 5th

Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the technology company on Wednesday, June 5th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 21st.

Woodward has raised its dividend by an average of 18.9% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 4 years. Woodward has a payout ratio of 16.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Woodward to earn $5.76 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 17.4%.

Woodward Stock Performance

NASDAQ WWD opened at $149.74 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $147.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $138.15. The stock has a market cap of $9.03 billion, a PE ratio of 31.59, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.36. Woodward has a fifty-two week low of $91.42 and a fifty-two week high of $160.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.65.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The technology company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $786.73 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.13 million. Woodward had a net margin of 9.50% and a return on equity of 15.26%. Woodward’s revenue was up 27.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.49 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Woodward will post 5.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on WWD. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Woodward from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Woodward from $165.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Woodward from $159.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Alembic Global Advisors lowered Woodward from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $148.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on Woodward from $136.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Woodward has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $158.22.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,500 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.86, for a total transaction of $208,290.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 20,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,850,934.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,500 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.86, for a total value of $208,290.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,850,934.66. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher Fawzy sold 11,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $1,540,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $677,040. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 51,200 shares of company stock worth $7,242,916 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.12% 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.