Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) Stock Price Expected to Rise, UBS Group Analyst Says

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) had its price objective hoisted by UBS Group from $216.00 to $232.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on WWD. Barclays raised their target price on Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Truist Financial raised their target price on Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $197.38.

Woodward Trading Down 1.8 %

NASDAQ WWD opened at $184.50 on Tuesday. Woodward has a fifty-two week low of $133.56 and a fifty-two week high of $201.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.89. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $179.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $170.55. The stock has a market cap of $10.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.40.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.21. Woodward had a return on equity of 17.13% and a net margin of 11.22%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.45 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Woodward will post 6 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is a boost from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. Woodward’s payout ratio is presently 16.64%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Woodward news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total value of $430,968.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 20,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,764,325.91. This trade represents a 10.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.85, for a total value of $1,818,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,093,275.35. The trade was a 46.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 60,313 shares of company stock valued at $10,752,072. Corporate insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Woodward

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Amalgamated Bank grew its holdings in shares of Woodward by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 29,001 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,826,000 after acquiring an additional 566 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Woodward by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 502,067 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $83,554,000 after acquiring an additional 19,868 shares during the period. Wealthstream Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Woodward in the fourth quarter worth $212,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Woodward by 6,488.9% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 593 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $99,000 after acquiring an additional 584 shares during the period. Finally, Navellier & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Woodward by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. now owns 8,470 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,410,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

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.