Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Short Interest Update

Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,320,000 shares, a growth of 69.1% from the March 31st total of 780,600 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 381,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.5 days. Currently, 2.3% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,500 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.86, for a total value of $208,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 20,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,850,934.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 38,700 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.98, for a total value of $5,494,626.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,833 shares in the company, valued at $1,680,049.34. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,500 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.86, for a total value of $208,290.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 20,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,850,934.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 51,200 shares of company stock valued at $7,242,916. 1.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Woodward

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Woodward by 34.7% in the 1st quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 268 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC increased its position in Woodward by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 28,230 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,843,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its position in Woodward by 22.8% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 491 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in Woodward by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 28,741 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,430,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. Finally, State of Michigan Retirement System increased its position in Woodward by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 14,510 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,975,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Alembic Global Advisors lowered Woodward from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $148.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Woodward from $165.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Woodward from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Woodward from $136.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Woodward from $168.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $158.22.

Woodward Stock Up 0.6 %

Woodward stock opened at $150.58 on Friday. Woodward has a fifty-two week low of $91.89 and a fifty-two week high of $160.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.65. The company has a market capitalization of $9.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.77, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.36. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $147.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $138.39.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The technology company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.33. Woodward had a return on equity of 15.26% and a net margin of 9.50%. The business had revenue of $786.73 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $750.13 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.49 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 27.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Woodward will post 5.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 21st. Woodward’s payout ratio is currently 21.10%.

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.