Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) Given New $172.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) had its price objective upped by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $156.00 to $172.00 in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the technology company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 5.03% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Woodward from $159.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Woodward from $165.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Woodward from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors downgraded shares of Woodward from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $148.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $161.00.

Woodward Price Performance

Shares of WWD traded up $12.70 on Tuesday, reaching $163.77. The stock had a trading volume of 479,933 shares, compared to its average volume of 384,358. Woodward has a twelve month low of $95.60 and a twelve month high of $169.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.88 billion, a PE ratio of 34.53, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.36. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $148.01 and a 200 day moving average of $138.67. 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 (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The technology company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.34. The company had revenue of $835.34 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $807.04 million. Woodward had a net margin of 9.50% and a return on equity of 15.26%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.01 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Woodward will post 5.27 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Woodward

In related news, EVP Christopher Fawzy sold 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $1,540,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,836 shares in the company, valued at approximately $677,040. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Woodward news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,500 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,850,934.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Christopher Fawzy sold 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $1,540,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $677,040. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 51,200 shares of company stock worth $7,242,916. Corporate insiders own 1.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WWD. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Woodward in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $4,911,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Woodward by 1.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,721,250 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $710,923,000 after acquiring an additional 59,884 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Woodward by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 998,396 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $124,061,000 after acquiring an additional 61,216 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in Woodward by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 381,273 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $47,377,000 after acquiring an additional 40,957 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Woodward by 95.3% in the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 13,059 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,621,000 after purchasing an additional 6,374 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

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.