Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) Shares Gap Up to $58.66

Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD – Get Rating) shares gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $58.66, but opened at $60.30. Weatherford International shares last traded at $59.39, with a volume of 89,834 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WFRD has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Weatherford International from $70.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 9th. Benchmark initiated coverage on Weatherford International in a research report on Thursday, February 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $88.00 price objective on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Weatherford International from $77.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 27th. Raymond James initiated coverage on Weatherford International in a research report on Tuesday, May 2nd. They set a “strong-buy” rating and a $100.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, TheStreet raised Weatherford International from a “d” rating to a “c” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Weatherford International has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $82.00.

Weatherford International Trading Up 2.5 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $4.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.75 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.53, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.01. The business has a 50-day moving average of $59.50 and a 200-day moving average of $54.81.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 25th. The company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. Weatherford International had a return on equity of 33.33% and a net margin of 3.89%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Weatherford International plc will post 4.87 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Weatherford International

In other Weatherford International news, EVP Joseph H. Mongrain sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.83, for a total value of $1,002,450.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 33,868 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,263,398.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Weatherford International

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 205.1% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 139,569 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,647,000 after acquiring an additional 93,829 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its position in Weatherford International by 8.5% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 12,198 shares of the company’s stock worth $406,000 after buying an additional 958 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its position in Weatherford International by 2,131.7% during the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 28,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $961,000 after buying an additional 27,563 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in Weatherford International by 1.7% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,182,007 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,361,000 after buying an additional 19,287 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Weatherford International by 69.0% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 476,799 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,873,000 after buying an additional 194,685 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.24% of the company’s stock.

About Weatherford International

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Weatherford International plc engages in the provision of equipment and services to the oil and natural gas exploration and production industry. It operates through following segments: Drilling and Evaluation (DRE), Well Construction and Completions (WCC) and Production and Intervention (PRI). The DRE segment offers managed pressure drilling, drilling services, wire line, and drilling fluids.