Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) Sets New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $106.65 and last traded at $106.9380, with a volume of 40591 shares. The stock had previously closed at $104.85.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WFRD has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Weatherford International from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 15th. Barclays decreased their target price on Weatherford International from $111.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Weatherford International in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $93.25.

Weatherford International Stock Down 1.0%

The company has a quick ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 2.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $74.83. The company has a market capitalization of $7.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.61 and a beta of 0.79.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.49. The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.26 billion. Weatherford International had a return on equity of 28.07% and a net margin of 8.76%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.50 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Weatherford International PLC will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Weatherford International Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 5th. Investors of record on Friday, February 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 6th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. This is a boost from Weatherford International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.55%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Kristin Ruzicka sold 2,129 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.25, for a total transaction of $164,465.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 15,673 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,210,739.25. This represents a 11.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Girish Saligram sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.50, for a total value of $10,550,000.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 2.09% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Weatherford International

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WFRD. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its stake in Weatherford International by 20.3% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 326,892 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,369,000 after purchasing an additional 55,183 shares in the last quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC grew its position in shares of Weatherford International by 110.8% during the 2nd quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 708,180 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,629,000 after buying an additional 372,192 shares in the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Weatherford International during the third quarter valued at $1,014,000. Cooke & Bieler LP raised its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 6.0% in the third quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 303,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,792,000 after acquiring an additional 17,330 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Weatherford International in the third quarter valued at about $20,725,000. Institutional investors own 97.23% of the company’s stock.

About Weatherford International

Weatherford International (NASDAQ: WFRD) is a global oilfield services company specializing in the development, design and manufacturing of equipment and technologies for oil and natural gas drilling, evaluation, completion and production. The company’s core offerings include well construction services such as directional drilling and wellbore positioning, well completion solutions that encompass sand control and zonal isolation technologies, and production enhancement services involving artificial lift systems and well intervention tools.

In addition to its comprehensive service lines, Weatherford provides a range of drilling optimization and reservoir evaluation products.