Insider Selling: Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Director Sells 4,600 Shares of Stock

Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total value of $864,156.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,450 shares in the company, valued at $3,278,157. This trade represents a 20.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Woodward Stock Down 3.1 %

WWD opened at $177.29 on Friday. Woodward, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.13 and a 52 week high of $201.64. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $184.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $174.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The company has a market cap of $10.52 billion, a PE ratio of 29.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.40.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.21. Woodward had a return on equity of 16.76% and a net margin of 11.18%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.45 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 20th. This is a boost from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.76%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on WWD shares. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com cut Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Woodward presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $197.38.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in Woodward by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 29,376 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,038,000 after purchasing an additional 521 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 72.4% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,731 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $640,000 after buying an additional 1,567 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Woodward in the third quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 27,288 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,680,000 after purchasing an additional 677 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Woodward by 40.0% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 35,274 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,799,000 after purchasing an additional 10,080 shares in the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.