Jefferies Financial Group Reiterates Buy Rating for Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD)

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by equities researchers at Jefferies Financial Group in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have a $245.00 price target on the technology company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $225.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price indicates a potential upside of 16.33% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on WWD. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Woodward from $205.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $187.00 target price on shares of Woodward and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Woodward from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Woodward currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.75.

Woodward Trading Up 2.2%

Woodward stock opened at $210.61 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $185.41 and a 200 day moving average of $182.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.24. Woodward has a 12-month low of $145.98 and a 12-month high of $216.95. 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, April 28th. The technology company reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.25. Woodward had a net margin of 11.18% and a return on equity of 16.76%. The company had revenue of $883.63 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $838.61 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.62 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Woodward will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Charles P. Blankenship sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.38, for a total value of $1,071,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 72,878 shares in the company, valued at $15,623,585.64. This trade represents a 6.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.52, for a total value of $536,256.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 20,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,015,216.80. This represents a 11.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 40,700 shares of company stock worth $7,851,450. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Woodward

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in Woodward in the fourth quarter worth $465,000. Focus Partners Wealth bought a new stake in shares of Woodward during the fourth quarter worth $294,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Woodward by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 10,286 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,712,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Woodward during the fourth quarter worth $2,137,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Woodward by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 503,977 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $83,872,000 after purchasing an additional 3,099 shares during the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.