Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) issued its earnings results on Monday. The technology company reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.26, Zacks reports. Woodward had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 16.57%.

Woodward Price Performance

WWD stock traded down $1.52 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $261.18. 958,252 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 517,092. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $254.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $244.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 2.04. The stock has a market cap of $15.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.33, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.26. Woodward has a fifty-two week low of $146.82 and a fifty-two week high of $274.50.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Woodward’s payout ratio is currently 17.72%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Woodward news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $244.32, for a total transaction of $427,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 20,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,121,680.16. This trade represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WWD. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Woodward by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,388,758 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $603,663,000 after buying an additional 80,538 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Woodward by 122.0% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 905,578 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $228,849,000 after purchasing an additional 497,722 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Woodward by 2.2% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 887,938 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $224,391,000 after buying an additional 18,821 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Woodward by 52.0% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 499,221 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $124,186,000 after buying an additional 170,826 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 394,130 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $99,597,000 after acquiring an additional 5,242 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Woodward declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, November 20th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.80 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase up to 11.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WWD has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Alembic Global Advisors raised Woodward from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $281.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Woodward in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research lowered Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Wolfe Research set a $300.00 target price on Woodward and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Woodward presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $268.67.

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.