Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $1.99 Million in Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 20,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,986,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Weatherford International by 1.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,785,384 shares of the company’s stock valued at $703,254,000 after buying an additional 120,401 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in Weatherford International by 4.2% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,928,501 shares of the company’s stock valued at $327,351,000 after buying an additional 197,337 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Weatherford International by 6.6% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,792,295 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,373,000 after buying an additional 111,712 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Weatherford International by 4.8% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,646,650 shares of the company’s stock valued at $148,742,000 after buying an additional 76,058 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Weatherford International by 5.2% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,340,602 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,097,000 after buying an additional 65,935 shares during the last quarter. 97.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Weatherford International Price Performance

NASDAQ WFRD opened at $110.41 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $7.98 billion, a PE ratio of 19.54, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.73. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $111.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $99.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.79. Weatherford International plc has a 52-week low of $55.81 and a 52-week high of $127.45.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.48. Weatherford International had a return on equity of 56.68% and a net margin of 8.12%. The business had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.12 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Weatherford International plc will post 6.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WFRD shares. Barclays started coverage on Weatherford International in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $135.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Weatherford International from $138.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. TheStreet raised Weatherford International from a “c” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Raymond James raised their price objective on Weatherford International from $134.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Weatherford International from $123.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $131.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Scott C. Weatherholt sold 40,455 shares of Weatherford International stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.91, for a total value of $4,001,404.05. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,019 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,365,629.29. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Scott C. Weatherholt sold 40,455 shares of Weatherford International stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.91, for a total value of $4,001,404.05. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,019 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,365,629.29. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Girish Saligram sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.57, for a total value of $6,214,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 146,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,213,915.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 135,455 shares of company stock worth $13,628,764. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Weatherford International Profile

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.