Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) Price Target Increased to $172.00 by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) had its price objective hoisted by Wells Fargo & Company from $156.00 to $172.00 in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on WWD. Alembic Global Advisors lowered Woodward from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and set a $148.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. StockNews.com cut shares of Woodward from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Woodward from $165.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Woodward from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Woodward from $159.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $168.75.

Woodward Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ WWD opened at $168.83 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $149.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $139.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.18 billion, a PE ratio of 29.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Woodward has a 12 month low of $105.18 and a 12 month high of $169.99.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The technology company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.34. The company had revenue of $835.34 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $807.04 million. Woodward had a net margin of 11.09% and a return on equity of 16.50%. Woodward’s revenue was up 16.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.01 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Woodward will post 5.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 21st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.86, for a total value of $208,290.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 20,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,850,934.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,500 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the director now owns 20,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,850,934.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 38,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.98, for a total value of $5,494,626.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 11,833 shares in the company, valued at $1,680,049.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 51,200 shares of company stock valued at $7,242,916 over the last ninety days. 1.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WWD. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Woodward in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,911,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Woodward by 1.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,721,250 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $710,923,000 after buying an additional 59,884 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Woodward by 6.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 998,396 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $124,061,000 after buying an additional 61,216 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in shares of Woodward by 12.0% in the third quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 381,273 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $47,377,000 after acquiring an additional 40,957 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Woodward by 95.3% during the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 13,059 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,621,000 after acquiring an additional 6,374 shares in the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Woodward Company Profile

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.