Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.34 EPS

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday. The technology company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.34, Briefing.com reports. Woodward had a return on equity of 15.26% and a net margin of 9.50%. The firm had revenue of $835.34 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $807.04 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.01 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Woodward updated its FY24 guidance to $5.70-6.00 EPS and its FY 2024 guidance to 5.700-6.000 EPS.

Woodward Stock Performance

Woodward stock opened at $151.07 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.87, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.36. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $148.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $138.67. Woodward has a 52 week low of $95.60 and a 52 week high of $160.79. The company has a current ratio of 2.65, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 21st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.10%.

Insider Activity at Woodward

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on WWD shares. StockNews.com downgraded Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Woodward from $159.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Woodward from $165.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Woodward from $134.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Woodward from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. 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.com, Woodward presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $159.22.

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.