Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) Price Target Raised to $147.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) had its price objective boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $128.00 to $147.00 in a research report report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Woodward in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a buy rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Woodward in a report on Wednesday, September 27th. They issued a buy rating and a $152.00 price target for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Woodward from $92.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a sell rating in a report on Friday, August 4th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Woodward from $110.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, August 1st. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on shares of Woodward in a report on Tuesday, October 10th. They set a buy rating and a $152.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $135.33.

Woodward Stock Down 0.3 %

WWD opened at $130.42 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 2.54. The stock has a market cap of $7.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.44. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $127.48 and its 200 day moving average is $121.66. Woodward has a fifty-two week low of $88.30 and a fifty-two week high of $136.70.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 16th. The technology company reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $777.07 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $763.40 million. Woodward had a net margin of 7.97% and a return on equity of 12.85%. The firm’s revenue was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.84 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Woodward will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 17th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Christopher Fawzy sold 5,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $650,000.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 4,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $648,570. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Rajeev Bhalla bought 399 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 24th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $125.07 per share, with a total value of $49,902.93. Following the purchase, the director now owns 1,779 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $222,499.53. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Christopher Fawzy sold 5,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total value of $650,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 4,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $648,570. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Woodward

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in Woodward by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,161 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $138,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. Red Spruce Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Woodward by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Red Spruce Capital LLC now owns 17,917 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,226,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Woodward by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,702 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $458,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Woodward by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,393 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $670,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Woodward by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 4,201 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $500,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.63% 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.