Woodward’s (WWD) “Buy (B)” Rating Reiterated at Weiss Ratings

Weiss Ratings reissued their buy (b) rating on shares of Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) in a research note released on Wednesday morning,Weiss Ratings reports.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on WWD. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Woodward from $229.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Alembic Global Advisors raised shares of Woodward from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $281.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. UBS Group increased 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. Northcoast Research raised shares of Woodward to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Woodward and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Woodward presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $268.67.

Woodward Stock Performance

Shares of WWD opened at $247.20 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $14.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.26. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $246.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $226.25. Woodward has a 12 month low of $146.82 and a 12 month high of $267.45.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The technology company reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $915.45 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $884.98 million. Woodward had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 16.57%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter 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. As a group, analysts predict that Woodward will post 6.15 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In related news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $244.32, for a total value of $427,560.00. Following 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.82% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Woodward

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward in the 3rd quarter worth about $260,000. Red Door Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Woodward by 13.4% in the 3rd quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC now owns 939 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $237,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Trust Point Inc. purchased a new stake in Woodward in the 3rd quarter valued at about $201,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its stake in Woodward by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 1,586 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $401,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Woodward in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,079,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.