Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) Cut to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Saturday.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 target price on shares of Woodward in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Woodward from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Woodward in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Woodward from $294.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $300.00 price objective on Woodward and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $298.78.

Woodward Stock Down 1.4%

WWD opened at $307.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 2.08. The company has a market cap of $18.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.71, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.02. Woodward has a one year low of $146.82 and a one year high of $317.56. The business’s fifty day moving average is $281.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $259.90.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 24th. The technology company reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.26. Woodward had a return on equity of 17.68% and a net margin of 12.39%.The business had revenue of $995.26 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $943.15 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.41 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 16.5% on a year-over-year basis. Woodward has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.500-8.000 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Woodward will post 6.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Woodward declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, November 20th that allows the company to repurchase $1.80 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to purchase up to 11.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Woodward news, Director John D. Cohn sold 3,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.33, for a total value of $888,990.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 21,575 shares in the company, valued at $6,393,319.75. The trade was a 12.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.76, for a total transaction of $2,105,320.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 9,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,890,303.60. This represents a 42.14% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 40,000 shares of company stock valued at $11,908,210. Insiders own 0.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WWD. State Street Corp grew its stake in Woodward by 3.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,388,758 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $603,663,000 after buying an additional 80,538 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,403,551 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $354,691,000 after acquiring an additional 8,307 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Woodward by 122.0% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 905,578 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $228,849,000 after purchasing an additional 497,722 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Woodward by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 887,938 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $224,391,000 after purchasing an additional 18,821 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Woodward in the second quarter valued at about $201,555,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

About Woodward

Woodward, Inc (NASDAQ: WWD) is a global leader in the design, manufacture and service of control systems and components for the aerospace and industrial markets. Founded in 1870 and headquartered in Fort Collins, Colorado, the company specializes in motion control, fuel systems, actuation, and digital control solutions. Its offerings enable precision management of flow, pressure and motion in critical applications ranging from aircraft engines and power turbines to hydraulic systems.

Woodward’s product portfolio is organized into two primary segments: Aerospace and Industrial.