Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Woodward from $228.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and set a $160.00 price objective (down from $186.00) on shares of Woodward in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Woodward from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $170.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Truist Financial upgraded Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $152.00 to $187.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Woodward presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.67.

Woodward Price Performance

WWD traded down $2.89 during trading on Thursday, reaching $161.52. The stock had a trading volume of 278,574 shares, compared to its average volume of 417,730. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $164.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $168.57. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.37. Woodward has a 1-year low of $119.03 and a 1-year high of $188.35.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 29th. The technology company reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.11. Woodward had a return on equity of 17.16% and a net margin of 11.47%. The business had revenue of $847.69 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $853.29 million. The company’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Woodward will post 5.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Woodward

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Woodward by 743.5% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 223,639 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $34,452,000 after purchasing an additional 197,125 shares during the last quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Woodward in the first quarter worth $3,962,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 36.5% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 20,216 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,116,000 after buying an additional 5,407 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board acquired a new position in Woodward in the 1st quarter valued at $1,301,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd raised its holdings in Woodward by 16.9% in the 1st quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 26,042 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,011,000 after acquiring an additional 3,759 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

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.