Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.21 EPS

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) announced its earnings results on Monday. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.21, RTT News reports. Woodward had a net margin of 11.22% and a return on equity of 17.13%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.45 earnings per share. Woodward updated its FY 2025 guidance to 5.850-6.250 EPS.

Woodward Trading Up 1.4 %

WWD opened at $187.90 on Tuesday. Woodward has a one year low of $133.56 and a one year high of $201.64. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $179.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $170.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.89. The company has a market cap of $11.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.26, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.40.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. This is a positive change from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Woodward’s payout ratio is 16.64%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total value of $430,968.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 20,963 shares in the company, valued at $3,764,325.91. The trade was a 10.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.85, for a total transaction of $1,818,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 11,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,093,275.35. This trade represents a 46.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 60,313 shares of company stock valued at $10,752,072. Corporate insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on WWD. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Woodward from $197.00 to $193.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays upped their price target on Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Woodward from $209.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Woodward has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $195.38.

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.