Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totaling 1,400,000 shares, a growth of 53.6% from the September 15th total of 911,500 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 542,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.6 days. Currently, 2.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Currently, 2.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 542,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.6 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Woodward news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,750 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $244.32, for a total transaction of $427,560.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 20,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,121,680.16. This trade represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.82% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Woodward

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WWD. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Woodward in the second quarter worth about $201,555,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Woodward by 31.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 639,139 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $156,646,000 after buying an additional 154,071 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Woodward during the 1st quarter valued at $25,667,000. Senator Investment Group LP bought a new stake in shares of Woodward in the 1st quarter valued at $22,355,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC bought a new position in Woodward during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,208,000. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Woodward Stock Performance

Shares of WWD stock opened at $247.40 on Thursday. Woodward has a 1 year low of $146.82 and a 1 year high of $267.45. The stock has a market cap of $14.84 billion, a PE ratio of 39.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.26. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $246.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $230.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 2.04.

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

Woodward Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.72%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on WWD. Wall Street Zen downgraded Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Woodward from $267.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Zacks Research downgraded Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 15th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Woodward in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Northcoast Research raised Woodward to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $268.67.

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.