Insider Selling: Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) Director Sells $1,357,440.00 in Stock

Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) Director Neal Goldman sold 16,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total value of $1,357,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 12,187 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,033,945.08. This trade represents a 56.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Weatherford International Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WFRD opened at $84.71 on Friday. Weatherford International PLC has a twelve month low of $52.70 and a twelve month high of $113.15. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $91.14 and its 200-day moving average is $95.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.71, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.86.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.35). The business had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. Weatherford International had a net margin of 7.66% and a return on equity of 21.50%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.87 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Weatherford International PLC will post 5.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Weatherford International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 6th. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.70%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WFRD has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. UBS Group raised Weatherford International from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $113.00 to $114.00 in a report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings downgraded Weatherford International from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Barclays dropped their target price on Weatherford International from $154.00 to $151.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Weatherford International currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $113.56.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Weatherford International

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Weatherford International by 712.8% during the 2nd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 1,646,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,812,000 after buying an additional 1,443,512 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 1,040.4% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,244,464 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,392,000 after acquiring an additional 1,135,338 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Weatherford International in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $61,399,000. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Weatherford International by 1,096.6% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 855,752 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,971,000 after acquiring an additional 784,237 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Weatherford International by 154.3% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,159,192 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,324,000 after acquiring an additional 703,401 shares during the last quarter. 97.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.