Brokerages Set Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Target Price at $168.75

Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $173.13.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Alembic Global Advisors cut shares of Woodward from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $148.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. UBS Group boosted their price target on Woodward from $168.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Woodward from $159.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $156.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Woodward from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.01, for a total value of $1,002,060.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,914,324.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Woodward news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.01, for a total value of $1,002,060.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,914,324.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 38,700 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.98, for a total value of $5,494,626.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 11,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,680,049.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 57,200 shares of company stock valued at $8,244,976 over the last quarter. 1.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Woodward

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WWD. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Woodward by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,758,261 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $783,872,000 after acquiring an additional 37,011 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its position in Woodward by 6.3% during the third quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,062,665 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $132,047,000 after purchasing an additional 62,897 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew 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 purchasing an additional 61,216 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $84,157,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in shares of Woodward by 37.6% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 524,683 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $71,425,000 after buying an additional 143,410 shares during the period. 81.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Woodward Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ WWD opened at $173.15 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $150.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $140.07. Woodward has a fifty-two week low of $105.18 and a fifty-two week high of $173.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a current ratio of 2.62. The company has a market cap of $10.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.27, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.31.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The technology company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.34. The company had revenue of $835.34 million for 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.01 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Woodward will post 5.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 21st. Woodward’s payout ratio is 17.48%.

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.