Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) was upgraded by Zacks Investment Research from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Wednesday, Zacks.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $115.00 price target on the technology company’s stock. Zacks Investment Research‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 2.81% from the stock’s current price.
According to Zacks, “Woodward witnessed strength across the aerospace segment from recovering passenger traffic, higher aircraft utilization and original equipment manufacturer production rates. Increased utilization of the commercial fleet and accelerated investments as a result of higher capital spending aided the segment’s quarterly results amid the global turmoil. Recovery across most of its end markets, improving aftermarket sales and factors like higher oil prices and energy demand acted as tailwinds. However, it reported tepid first-quarter fiscal 2022 results, with both the bottom line and top line missing their respective Zacks Consensus Estimate. Global supply chain constraints, soft defense sales and weakness in China natural gas engines have affected its operations. High concentration risks and stiff competition are other major woes for Woodward.”
A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Truist Financial upgraded Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $110.00 to $143.00 in a research report on Friday, January 7th. TheStreet downgraded Woodward from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Woodward from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $125.50.
WWD stock traded up $2.40 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $111.86. 5,965 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 317,348. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $109.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $114.57. The company has a market capitalization of $7.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 2.85 and a current ratio of 4.00. Woodward has a 12 month low of $101.28 and a 12 month high of $130.75.
Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 31st. The technology company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.81 by ($0.25). Woodward had a return on equity of 9.86% and a net margin of 9.29%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.64 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Woodward will post 3.86 EPS for the current year.
In other news, CEO Thomas A. Gendron sold 9,613 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.62, for a total transaction of $1,121,068.06. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 3.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. CWM LLC purchased a new position in Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Woodward in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Ellevest Inc. lifted its position in shares of Woodward by 415.6% during the 3rd quarter. Ellevest Inc. now owns 330 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Woodward in the 2nd quarter valued at $89,000. Finally, Parisi Gray Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Woodward in the 2nd quarter valued at $93,000. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Woodward Company Profile
Woodward, Inc engages in the provision of control system solutions and components for the aerospace and industrial markets. It operates through the following segments: Aerospace and Industrial. The Aerospace segment designs, manufactures and services systems and products for the management of fuel, air and combustion and motion control.
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