Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. UBS Group raised their price target on Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $197.38.

Woodward Trading Down 0.1 %

Woodward stock traded down $0.21 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $182.85. The stock had a trading volume of 326,063 shares, compared to its average volume of 460,587. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $182.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $173.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.85 billion, a PE ratio of 30.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.40. Woodward has a 12 month low of $136.25 and a 12 month high of $201.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its 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 period last year, the business earned $1.45 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Woodward will post 6.15 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Woodward

In other news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total transaction of $430,968.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,764,325.91. The trade was a 10.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.54, for a total value of $1,795,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 11,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,066,684.94. This represents a 46.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 32,400 shares of company stock worth $5,844,768. 0.82% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Woodward

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Woodward by 135.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 992,189 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $170,170,000 after purchasing an additional 570,124 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in Woodward in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,547,000. PEAK6 Investments LLC bought a new stake in Woodward in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,448,000. Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in Woodward by 12.1% in 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 period. Finally, Ingalls & Snyder LLC bought a new stake in Woodward in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,698,000. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by 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.