Analysts Set Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Price Target at $406.45

Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the fourteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $406.4545.

Several analysts have recently weighed in on WWD shares. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Woodward from $415.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen cut Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and set a $470.00 price target on shares of Woodward in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Woodward in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th.

Woodward Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ WWD opened at $358.54 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The business has a 50-day moving average of $397.62 and a 200-day moving average of $379.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.88, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.88. Woodward has a 12 month low of $233.31 and a 12 month high of $450.92.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The technology company reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by $0.08. Woodward had a net margin of 13.17% and a return on equity of 21.89%. The business had revenue of $1.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.76 earnings per share. Woodward’s quarterly revenue was up 21.2% on a year-over-year basis. Woodward has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.300-9.500 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Woodward will post 9.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Woodward’s payout ratio is presently 14.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Woodward news, EVP Karrie M. Bem sold 185 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.00, for a total value of $65,675.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 3,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,295,040. This represents a 4.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Daniel G. Korte sold 14,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $356.05, for a total transaction of $5,233,935.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 4,434 shares in the company, valued at $1,578,725.70. The trade was a 76.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 17,220 shares of company stock valued at $6,131,982 over the last quarter. 0.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Woodward

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WWD. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Woodward during the second quarter valued at about $2,984,684,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Woodward in the fourth quarter worth about $251,365,000. Findlay Park Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of Woodward in the second quarter worth about $231,958,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Woodward by 122.0% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 905,578 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $228,849,000 after acquiring an additional 497,722 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Woodward during the 2nd quarter valued at about $184,322,000. 81.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Woodward Company Profile

Woodward, Inc (NASDAQ: WWD) is a global leader in the design, manufacture and service of control systems and components for the aerospace and industrial markets. Founded in 1870 and headquartered in Fort Collins, Colorado, the company specializes in motion control, fuel systems, actuation, and digital control solutions. Its offerings enable precision management of flow, pressure and motion in critical applications ranging from aircraft engines and power turbines to hydraulic systems.

Woodward’s product portfolio is organized into two primary segments: Aerospace and Industrial.