Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) Stock Rating Lowered by Zacks Research

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) was downgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. UBS Group upgraded shares of Weatherford International from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $113.00 to $114.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Weatherford International from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Weatherford International from $137.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Weatherford International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 4th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $113.56.

Weatherford International Price Performance

Shares of WFRD opened at $92.10 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $6.60 billion, a PE ratio of 18.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.87. Weatherford International has a 52-week low of $54.69 and a 52-week high of $113.15. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $88.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $96.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 2.34.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.35). The company had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. Weatherford International had a return on equity of 21.50% and a net margin of 7.66%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.87 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Weatherford International will post 5.35 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Jacqueline C. Mutschler sold 4,094 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.50, for a total transaction of $370,507.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 29,093 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,632,916.50. The trade was a 12.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Neal P. Goldman sold 16,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total transaction of $1,357,440.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 12,187 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,033,945.08. The trade was a 56.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 26,094 shares of company stock worth $2,244,487 over the last three months. 2.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Weatherford International

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Weatherford International by 1,040.4% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,244,464 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,392,000 after buying an additional 1,135,338 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Weatherford International by 34.0% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 71,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,615,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in Weatherford International by 13.8% during the 1st quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 171,477 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,218,000 after acquiring an additional 20,803 shares during the last quarter. GeoSphere Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Weatherford International by 70.0% during the 4th quarter. GeoSphere Capital Management LLC now owns 42,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,326,000 after acquiring an additional 17,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Weatherford International in the 4th quarter worth $1,389,000. 97.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Weatherford International Company Profile

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.