Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.28 Per Share

Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, February 3rd,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of 0.28 per share by the technology company on Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. This is an increase from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25.

Woodward has raised its dividend payment by an average of 15.4% annually over the last three years. Woodward has a payout ratio of 13.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Woodward to earn $7.09 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 14.1%.

Woodward Price Performance

WWD stock traded up $2.65 during trading on Monday, hitting $187.90. 1,083,374 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 441,458. Woodward has a one year low of $133.56 and a one year high of $201.64. The stock has a market cap of $11.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $178.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $170.42.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The technology company reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.19. Woodward had a net margin of 11.22% and a return on equity of 17.13%. The company had revenue of $855.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $810.39 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.33 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Woodward will post 6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Woodward

In related news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.85, for a total transaction of $1,818,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,093,275.35. This trade represents a 46.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total transaction of $430,968.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,764,325.91. This represents a 10.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 60,313 shares of company stock worth $10,752,072. 0.82% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Woodward from $209.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Woodward from $197.00 to $193.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Woodward has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $195.38.

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.