Insider Selling: Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) COO Sells 10,000 Shares of Stock

Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.50, for a total transaction of $1,845,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,477 shares in the company, valued at $2,855,506.50. The trade was a 39.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Woodward Trading Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ:WWD opened at $185.39 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.05, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.39. Woodward, Inc. has a one year low of $144.45 and a one year high of $201.64. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $185.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $175.65.

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

Woodward Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th were issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 20th. This is a boost from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. Woodward’s payout ratio is 18.76%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. 111 Capital purchased a new position in shares of Woodward during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,134,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Woodward by 56.3% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 20,117 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,348,000 after purchasing an additional 7,248 shares during the last quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Woodward during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $124,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Woodward during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $186,000. Finally, Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Woodward during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $61,000. 81.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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