Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD) have received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the eight brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $144.88.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on WFRD shares. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $149.00 to $142.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Weatherford International from $155.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Weatherford International from $145.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. Raymond James lowered their price target on shares of Weatherford International from $161.00 to $158.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Weatherford International in a report on Thursday.

Weatherford International Stock Up 3.9 %

NASDAQ:WFRD opened at $80.35 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $93.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $109.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.47. Weatherford International has a one year low of $77.29 and a one year high of $135.00. The company has a market cap of $5.88 billion, a PE ratio of 13.00, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.58.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $2.06 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.41. Weatherford International had a net margin of 9.65% and a return on equity of 49.11%. The business had revenue of $1.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.66 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Weatherford International will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Weatherford International Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 6th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.18%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP David John Reed sold 6,805 shares of Weatherford International stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.96, for a total value of $639,397.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Weatherford International

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Weatherford International by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,599,657 shares of the company’s stock valued at $877,152,000 after purchasing an additional 53,017 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Weatherford International by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,409,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $739,730,000 after acquiring an additional 182,120 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in Weatherford International by 19.3% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,722,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $315,240,000 after acquiring an additional 439,700 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in Weatherford International by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 657,953 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,566,000 after acquiring an additional 38,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in Weatherford International by 33.0% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 631,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,372,000 after acquiring an additional 156,756 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.23% of the company’s stock.

About Weatherford International

Weatherford International plc, an energy services company, provides equipment and services for the drilling, evaluation, completion, production, and intervention of oil, geothermal, and natural gas wells worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Drilling and Evaluation; Well Construction and Completions; and Production and Intervention.