Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.02 EPS

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The technology company reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. Woodward had a net margin of 7.34% and a return on equity of 11.46%. The firm had revenue of $777.07 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $763.40 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.84 earnings per share. Woodward’s revenue was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Woodward updated its FY24 guidance to $4.70-5.15 EPS.

Woodward Stock Down 0.8 %

NASDAQ WWD opened at $133.52 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.54 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $127.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $121.14. Woodward has a 12 month low of $88.30 and a 12 month high of $136.70. The company has a market capitalization of $8.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.22, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.44.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 17th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Christopher Fawzy sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $650,000.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 4,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $648,570. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Woodward news, VP Christopher Fawzy sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total value of $650,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 4,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $648,570. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rajeev Bhalla acquired 399 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 24th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $125.07 per share, with a total value of $49,902.93. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 1,779 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $222,499.53. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.19% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Woodward

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Woodward by 11.5% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,324 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $790,000 after purchasing an additional 653 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Woodward by 15.4% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,749,193 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $718,131,000 after purchasing an additional 768,984 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. bought a new position in shares of Woodward in the 1st quarter valued at about $516,000. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can boosted its stake in shares of Woodward by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 34,401 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,411,000 after purchasing an additional 2,520 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Woodward by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 224,853 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,088,000 after purchasing an additional 15,738 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WWD has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Woodward in a report on Tuesday, October 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $152.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Woodward in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Woodward from $128.00 to $147.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Woodward from $110.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Woodward from $92.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Woodward currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $135.33.

About Woodward

Woodward, Inc designs, manufactures, and services control solutions for the aerospace and industrial markets worldwide. The company operates through 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.