Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) COO Sells $641,388.00 in Stock

Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 3,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.36, for a total value of $641,388.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,008,109.72. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Woodward Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of Woodward stock opened at $188.19 on Thursday. Woodward, Inc. has a twelve month low of $144.45 and a twelve month high of $201.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $186.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $176.39. The firm has a market cap of $11.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.52, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.39.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.21. Woodward had a return on equity of 16.76% and a net margin of 11.18%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.45 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is an increase from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.76%.

Institutional Trading of Woodward

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pathstone Holdings LLC increased its stake in Woodward by 28.6% during the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 14,038 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,408,000 after acquiring an additional 3,120 shares during the last quarter. Commerce Bank increased its position in shares of Woodward by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 4,624 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $793,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its position in shares of Woodward by 12.1% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 64,153 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $11,003,000 after purchasing an additional 6,917 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in Woodward by 165.5% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 8,603 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,476,000 after buying an additional 5,363 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DRW Securities LLC bought a new stake in Woodward in the third quarter worth $270,000. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on WWD shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $197.38.

About Woodward

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.