Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS) shares are in the red during the Tuesday lunch hour.
At the time of writing, shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) oil and gas stock are changing hands for $38.13 apiece, down 0.86%.
That compares to a 0.55% loss posted by the S&P/ASX 200 Energy Index (ASX: XEJ) and a 0.1% gain on the ASX 200 at this same time.
This comes as investors digest Woodside's half-year results (H1 2023), released this morning.
What's happening with Woodside shares?
Woodside delivered some solid results today. But not every metric was positive.
On the growth side, Woodside reported record H1 net profit after tax (NPAT). NPAT increased 6% year on year to US$1.74 billion. And the company produced a record 91.3 millions of barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) over the six months.
Operating revenue of US$7.40 billion was up 27% from H1 2022, and in line with recent guidance provided by management.
But Woodside shares could be facing some headwinds on two fronts.
First, the decline in earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), down 6% from H1 2022 to $2.79 billion.
And second, was the 27% year-on-year fall in the interim dividend. Woodside declared a fully franked interim dividend of 80 US cents per share.
That represents an approximately 80% payout of underlying NPAT, in line with the recent averages. But as a favoured income stock, Woodside shares may be seeing some selling pressure today with the reduced dividend.
