Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Increases Holdings in Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD) by 45.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,643 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,137 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Weatherford International were worth $261,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Truvestments Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 6,048 shares of the company’s stock valued at $433,000 after acquiring an additional 1,064 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Weatherford International by 16.7% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 8,676 shares of the company’s stock worth $621,000 after purchasing an additional 1,243 shares in the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP purchased a new stake in shares of Weatherford International in the 4th quarter worth about $17,703,000. Moran Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,260 shares of the company’s stock valued at $448,000 after purchasing an additional 661 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its position in shares of Weatherford International by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 18,803 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,347,000 after buying an additional 821 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.23% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Arunava Mitra sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.57, for a total transaction of $675,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 21,072 shares in the company, valued at $1,423,835.04. This represents a 32.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Depinder Sandhu sold 14,000 shares of Weatherford International stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.41, for a total value of $929,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $590,517.72. The trade was a 61.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 92,692 shares of company stock valued at $6,207,725. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WFRD has been the topic of several research reports. Raymond James cut their price objective on Weatherford International from $107.00 to $97.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Weatherford International from $87.00 to $82.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Benchmark decreased their price objective on Weatherford International from $140.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $100.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Weatherford International from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $132.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.63.

Weatherford International Price Performance

WFRD opened at $52.23 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.80 billion, a PE ratio of 7.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $63.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $76.04. Weatherford International plc has a 1 year low of $51.24 and a 1 year high of $135.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 1.49.

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

Weatherford International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.91%. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio is 14.88%.

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.