Insider Selling: Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) COO Sells 3,300 Shares of Stock

Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.36, for a total value of $641,388.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,477 shares in the company, valued at $3,008,109.72. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Woodward Price Performance

Shares of WWD traded down $4.89 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $188.19. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 706,238 shares, compared to its average volume of 450,575. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Woodward, Inc. has a one year low of $144.45 and a one year high of $201.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.39. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $186.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $176.31.

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 in the previous year, the firm earned $1.45 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. This is a boost from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 20th. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.76%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in Woodward in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Woodward in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. NBT Bank N A NY bought a new position in shares of Woodward during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Mather Group LLC. raised its stake in shares of Woodward by 44.8% during the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 278 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Woodward during the fourth quarter worth $57,000. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on WWD. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. UBS Group increased their price target on Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com raised Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $197.38.

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.