Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $107.63.

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Weatherford International from $87.00 to $82.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Weatherford International from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Raymond James reduced their price target on Weatherford International from $107.00 to $97.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Weatherford International from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $132.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Weatherford International from $100.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th.

Weatherford International Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of WFRD stock opened at $61.91 on Friday. Weatherford International has a 1-year low of $60.45 and a 1-year high of $135.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $68.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $81.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 1.49. The company has a market cap of $4.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.60.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by ($0.30). Weatherford International had a return on equity of 40.65% and a net margin of 9.18%. On average, research analysts expect that Weatherford International will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Weatherford International Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.62%. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.88%.

Insider Activity

In other Weatherford International news, CAO Desmond J. Mills sold 19,425 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.51, for a total transaction of $1,311,381.75. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,899 shares in the company, valued at $1,208,361.49. This represents a 52.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Scott C. Weatherholt sold 44,505 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.17, for a total value of $2,944,895.85. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 125,019 shares in the company, valued at $8,272,507.23. This trade represents a 26.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 92,692 shares of company stock worth $6,207,725 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Weatherford International by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,702,911 shares of the company’s stock worth $551,760,000 after purchasing an additional 270,775 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 295.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,945,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $425,894,000 after acquiring an additional 4,443,823 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,402,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $315,375,000 after acquiring an additional 298,811 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,638,934 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,657,000 after acquiring an additional 65,931 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,777,128 shares of the company’s stock valued at $198,877,000 after acquiring an additional 144,396 shares in the last quarter. 97.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.