Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) Rating Lowered to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report released on Saturday morning.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on WWD. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Woodward from $283.00 to $299.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective (up from $225.00) on shares of Woodward in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Zacks Research cut shares of Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Woodward from $229.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Woodward to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Woodward currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $253.11.

Woodward Stock Up 0.7%

NASDAQ:WWD opened at $239.88 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $14.39 billion, a PE ratio of 37.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.27. Woodward has a twelve month low of $146.82 and a twelve month high of $267.45. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company’s 50 day moving average is $249.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $218.25.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The technology company reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $915.45 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $884.98 million. Woodward had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 16.57%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.63 earnings per share. Woodward has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.500-6.750 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Woodward will post 6.15 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st were given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 21st. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In related news, EVP Randall Hobbs sold 846 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $211,500.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 48,981 shares in the company, valued at $12,245,250. The trade was a 1.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $244.32, for a total transaction of $427,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 20,963 shares in the company, valued at $5,121,680.16. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,096 shares of company stock worth $759,060 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Woodward

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 427.0% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 6,830 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,671,000 after buying an additional 5,534 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 35.6% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 25,688 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,300,000 after buying an additional 6,741 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 114.5% in the 2nd quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 3,290 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $806,000 after buying an additional 1,756 shares in the last quarter. KP Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 24.2% in the 2nd quarter. KP Management LLC now owns 20,500 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,024,000 after buying an additional 4,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FORA Capital LLC acquired a new position in Woodward in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,353,000. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.