Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) Hits New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $140.00 to $175.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Woodward traded as high as $173.13 and last traded at $173.13, with a volume of 55658 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $168.83.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on WWD. UBS Group raised their price objective on Woodward from $168.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Woodward from $159.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Woodward from $156.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Woodward from $182.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $173.13.

Insider Transactions at Woodward

In related news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,500 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,850,934.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,500 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,850,934.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher Fawzy sold 11,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $1,540,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $677,040. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 57,200 shares of company stock valued at $8,244,976 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.12% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Woodward

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WWD. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its stake in shares of Woodward by 1.1% in the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 52,772 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $8,133,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Woodward by 89,808.3% in the first quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 21,578 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,326,000 after purchasing an additional 21,554 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S bought a new position in shares of Woodward in the first quarter worth about $106,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Woodward in the first quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Woodward in the first quarter worth about $31,000. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Woodward Stock Up 2.9 %

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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $150.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $139.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.31.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 29th. The technology company reported $1.62 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.01 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Woodward, Inc. will post 5.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

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