Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com lowered shares of Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Friday morning.

WWD has been the subject of several other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Woodward from $228.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Woodward from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $170.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial raised shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $152.00 to $187.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective (down previously from $186.00) on shares of Woodward in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Woodward currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $174.67.

Woodward Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WWD opened at $176.05 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market cap of $10.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.44, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.38. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $167.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $170.94. Woodward has a 52 week low of $129.46 and a 52 week high of $188.35.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Woodward news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.50, for a total transaction of $1,745,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,511 shares in the company, valued at $2,008,669.50. This represents a 46.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 27,913 shares of company stock valued at $4,907,304. 1.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Woodward

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,278,502 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $219,321,000 after acquiring an additional 59,290 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its position in Woodward by 0.4% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 28,734 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,928,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Woodward by 51.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 42,189 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,236,000 after purchasing an additional 14,326 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 4.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,421,483 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $415,309,000 after buying an additional 110,569 shares during the period. Finally, Maven Securities LTD acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward in the third quarter valued at about $518,000. 81.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.