Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) Given New $232.00 Price Target at UBS Group

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) had its price target lifted by UBS Group from $216.00 to $232.00 in a research note published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on WWD. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com raised Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $197.38.

Woodward Stock Performance

Shares of WWD stock opened at $194.29 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $179.63 and a 200-day moving average of $170.85. Woodward has a 52 week low of $134.82 and a 52 week high of $201.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a market cap of $11.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.40.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.21. Woodward had a net margin of 11.22% and a return on equity of 17.13%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.45 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Woodward will post 6 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This is an increase from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is 18.76%.

Insider Transactions at Woodward

In related news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.85, for a total transaction of $1,818,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 11,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,093,275.35. This trade represents a 46.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total transaction of $430,968.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 20,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,764,325.91. The trade was a 10.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,313 shares of company stock worth $9,007,072 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Woodward

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Woodward during the 3rd quarter worth $99,000,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Woodward by 135.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 992,189 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $170,170,000 after acquiring an additional 570,124 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Woodward in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,187,000. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT bought a new stake in Woodward in the 4th quarter valued at about $20,045,000. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in Woodward by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,421,483 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $415,309,000 after acquiring an additional 110,569 shares during the period. 81.18% of the stock is 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.