Truist Financial Has Lowered Expectations for Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) Stock Price

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) had its price target lowered by investment analysts at Truist Financial from $229.00 to $205.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the technology company’s stock. Truist Financial’s target price points to a potential upside of 21.18% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “reduce” rating on shares of Woodward in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $187.00 target price on Woodward and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Woodward presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $193.75.

Woodward Price Performance

Shares of WWD opened at $169.17 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $179.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Woodward has a twelve month low of $145.98 and a twelve month high of $201.64. The company has a market cap of $10.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.12.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the previous year, the business posted $1.45 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Woodward will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In other news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total transaction of $864,156.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,278,157. The trade was a 20.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was 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. This trade represents a 39.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 27,900 shares of company stock valued at $5,215,444. 0.82% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of WWD. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its position in shares of Woodward by 191.2% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 166 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the period. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. boosted its position in Woodward by 2,314.3% during the first quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 169 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. NBT Bank N A NY purchased a new stake in shares of Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. raised its stake in shares of Woodward by 44.8% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 278 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

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.