Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Short Interest Update

Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,320,000 shares, an increase of 69.1% from the March 31st total of 780,600 shares. Currently, 2.3% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 381,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Insider Activity at Woodward

In related news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,500 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.86, for a total value of $208,290.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,850,934.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,500 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.86, for a total value of $208,290.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,850,934.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 38,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.98, for a total transaction of $5,494,626.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 11,833 shares in the company, valued at $1,680,049.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 51,200 shares of company stock worth $7,242,916 in the last ninety days. 1.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Woodward

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Woodward by 79.3% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 199 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Woodward in the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Woodward in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in Woodward in the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in Woodward in the 4th quarter worth about $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ:WWD opened at $150.58 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 2.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Woodward has a 1-year low of $91.89 and a 1-year high of $160.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.36. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $147.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $138.46.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The technology company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.33. Woodward had a return on equity of 15.26% and a net margin of 9.50%. The business had revenue of $786.73 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.13 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.49 EPS. Woodward’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Woodward will post 5.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 21st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.10%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on WWD shares. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Woodward from $134.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Woodward from $165.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Woodward from $159.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Alembic Global Advisors lowered shares of Woodward from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $148.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Woodward from $136.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $158.22.

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.