Truist Financial Raises Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) Price Target to $152.00

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) had its price target raised by equities researchers at Truist Financial from $143.00 to $152.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “hold” rating on the technology company’s stock. Truist Financial’s price objective points to a potential upside of 0.62% from the company’s previous close.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. UBS Group raised their price target on Woodward from $168.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Alembic Global Advisors lowered Woodward from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $148.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. StockNews.com lowered Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Woodward from $165.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Woodward from $134.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $159.22.

Woodward Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WWD opened at $151.07 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $147.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $138.52. Woodward has a fifty-two week low of $95.60 and a fifty-two week high of $160.79. The firm has a market cap of $9.11 billion, a PE ratio of 31.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.65.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The technology company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.33. Woodward had a return on equity of 15.26% and a net margin of 9.50%. The company had revenue of $786.73 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.13 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.49 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 27.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Woodward will post 5.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 38,700 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.98, for a total value of $5,494,626.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,680,049.34. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Woodward news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.86, for a total transaction of $208,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,850,934.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 38,700 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.98, for a total value of $5,494,626.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,833 shares in the company, valued at $1,680,049.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 51,200 shares of company stock worth $7,242,916. 1.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Woodward by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,758,261 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $783,872,000 after buying an additional 37,011 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Woodward by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,062,665 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $132,047,000 after buying an additional 62,897 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Woodward by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 998,396 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $124,061,000 after buying an additional 61,216 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter valued at about $84,157,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of Woodward by 37.6% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 524,683 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $71,425,000 after buying an additional 143,410 shares in the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.