Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Buy”

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Monday.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on WFRD. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $93.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $111.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Weatherford International in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.50.

Weatherford International Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WFRD opened at $86.80 on Monday. Weatherford International has a twelve month low of $36.74 and a twelve month high of $110.57. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $94.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $79.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.23 billion, a PE ratio of 14.64 and a beta of 0.78.

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

Weatherford International Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 5th. Investors of record on Friday, February 6th were given a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 6th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. This is a boost from Weatherford International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio is 18.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Weatherford International news, CEO Girish Saligram sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.50, for a total transaction of $10,550,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Weatherford International

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WFRD. Holocene Advisors LP increased its holdings in Weatherford International by 712.8% in the second quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 1,646,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,812,000 after purchasing an additional 1,443,512 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Weatherford International by 1,040.4% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,244,464 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,392,000 after buying an additional 1,135,338 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in Weatherford International by 1,005.3% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,056,407 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,148,000 after buying an additional 960,832 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Weatherford International in the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,542,000. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Weatherford International by 1,096.6% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 855,752 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,971,000 after buying an additional 784,237 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.