Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $271.71 and last traded at $271.6550, with a volume of 117530 shares. The stock had previously closed at $266.31.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on WWD. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Woodward in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Northcoast Research upgraded Woodward to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Barclays boosted their price target on Woodward from $200.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Zacks Research cut Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Woodward and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Woodward currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $268.67.

Woodward Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.28 billion, a PE ratio of 42.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.26. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $250.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $239.55.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. Woodward’s payout ratio is presently 17.72%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Woodward news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,750 shares of Woodward 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 transaction, the director owned 20,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,121,680.16. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Woodward

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Woodward in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $201,555,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Woodward by 31.8% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 639,139 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $156,646,000 after buying an additional 154,071 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Woodward in the 1st quarter valued at $25,667,000. Senator Investment Group LP bought a new position in Woodward in the 1st quarter worth $22,355,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward in the second quarter valued at about $28,208,000. Institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

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.