Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Stock Has Average Price Target of $415.17 According to Analysts

Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $414.33.

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen cut Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Zacks Research cut shares of Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Woodward from $450.00 to $430.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Woodward in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Woodward from $440.00 to $430.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Shawn McLevige sold 2,150 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $356.82, for a total value of $767,163.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 3,098 shares in the company, valued at $1,105,428.36. This represents a 40.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Tribune Investment Group LP purchased a new stake in shares of Woodward in the second quarter worth approximately $5,752,000. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward during the second quarter worth approximately $2,984,684,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Woodward by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,491,870 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $451,093,000 after purchasing an additional 106,390 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in Woodward by 15.4% during the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 169,174 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $51,145,000 after purchasing an additional 22,555 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Woodward in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $251,365,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Stock Performance

WWD opened at $328.59 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $19.40 billion, a PE ratio of 36.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $350.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $370.67. Woodward has a fifty-two week low of $244.69 and a fifty-two week high of $450.92.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The technology company reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by $0.08. Woodward had a return on equity of 21.89% and a net margin of 13.17%.The business had revenue of $1.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.76 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.2% on a year-over-year basis. Woodward has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.300-9.500 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Woodward will post 9.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. Woodward’s payout ratio is 14.24%.

About Woodward

Woodward, Inc is a designer, manufacturer and service provider of control systems and components for the aerospace and energy industries. The company develops technologies that help regulate the flow of fuel, air and power in aircraft engines, industrial engines and other energy systems.

Woodward’s aerospace products include engine controls, fuel metering systems, actuation systems, air-management components and electric power systems used in commercial aircraft, business jets, military aircraft and other aerospace applications.