Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the ten research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $97.50.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on WFRD shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Zacks Research cut Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. UBS Group upped their price target on Weatherford International from $82.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Weatherford International from $111.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Weatherford International from $93.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th.

Insider Transactions at Weatherford International

In related news, CEO Girish Saligram sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.50, for a total value of $10,550,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Weatherford International by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,219 shares of the company’s stock valued at $252,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Weatherford International by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Weatherford International by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $385,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in Weatherford International by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $319,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its stake in Weatherford International by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 7,711 shares of the company’s stock valued at $603,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.23% of the company’s stock.

Weatherford International Stock Performance

Shares of Weatherford International stock opened at $86.40 on Wednesday. Weatherford International has a 12 month low of $36.74 and a 12 month high of $110.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.57 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $94.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $79.58.

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

Weatherford International Increases Dividend

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

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.