Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) Price Target Raised to $175.00 at Barclays

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) had its price target increased by Barclays from $140.00 to $175.00 in a research note published on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on WWD. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Woodward from $159.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Woodward from $156.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Alembic Global Advisors lowered 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Woodward from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $168.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $173.13.

Woodward Price Performance

WWD opened at $173.15 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.27, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Woodward has a 12-month low of $105.18 and a 12-month high of $173.99. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $150.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $140.07.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The technology company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.34. Woodward had a net margin of 11.09% and a return on equity of 16.50%. The business had revenue of $835.34 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $807.04 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.01 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Woodward will post 5.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Woodward

In other Woodward news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 38,700 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.98, for a total transaction of $5,494,626.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,680,049.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 38,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.98, for a total transaction of $5,494,626.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,680,049.34. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,500 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.86, for a total transaction of $208,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,850,934.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 57,200 shares of company stock worth $8,244,976. Company insiders own 1.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WWD. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 79.3% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 199 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Woodward during the first quarter worth $31,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Woodward in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Woodward during the 1st quarter worth $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% 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.