Gregg C. Sengstack Sells 6,000 Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Stock

Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.01, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Woodward Stock Performance

Woodward stock opened at $176.45 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 1.78. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $151.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $140.44. The company has a market capitalization of $10.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.31. Woodward, Inc. has a 12-month low of $105.18 and a 12-month high of $177.58.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its 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 business had revenue of $835.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $807.04 million. Woodward had a return on equity of 16.50% and a net margin of 11.09%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.01 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Woodward, Inc. will post 5.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 21st. Woodward’s payout ratio is 17.48%.

Institutional Trading of Woodward

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WWD. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Woodward by 34.7% in the first quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 268 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Woodward by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 28,230 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,843,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of Woodward by 22.8% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 491 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in Woodward by 0.3% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 28,741 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,430,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in Woodward by 3.2% in the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 3,173 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $489,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WWD. Alembic Global Advisors cut Woodward from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $148.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, February 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Woodward from $159.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Woodward from $182.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Woodward from $140.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.13.

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.