Alps Advisors Inc. Takes $501,000 Position in Weatherford International PLC $WFRD

Alps Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 7,320 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $501,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its position in Weatherford International by 20.3% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 326,892 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,369,000 after buying an additional 55,183 shares during the period. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC grew its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 110.8% in the 2nd quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 708,180 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,629,000 after purchasing an additional 372,192 shares during the period. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Weatherford International during the third quarter valued at $1,014,000. Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its position in Weatherford International by 6.0% in the third quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 303,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,792,000 after buying an additional 17,330 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. bought a new stake in Weatherford International during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $20,725,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.23% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Kristin Ruzicka sold 2,129 shares of Weatherford International stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.25, for a total transaction of $164,465.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 15,673 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,210,739.25. The trade was a 11.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Girish Saligram sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.50, for a total value of $10,550,000.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 2.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Weatherford International Trading Down 2.8%

Shares of WFRD opened at $100.70 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $7.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.98 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a current ratio of 2.19. Weatherford International PLC has a 52-week low of $36.74 and a 52-week high of $106.41. The business’s fifty day moving average is $86.56 and its 200-day moving average is $72.91.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.49. The company had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.26 billion. Weatherford International had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 28.07%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.50 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Weatherford International PLC will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Weatherford International Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 5th. Investors of record on Friday, February 6th will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 6th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. This is a boost from Weatherford International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio is 18.55%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on WFRD. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $111.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Weatherford International in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Weatherford International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $82.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Weatherford International from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.50.

Weatherford International Company Profile

Weatherford International (NASDAQ: WFRD) is a global oilfield services company specializing in the development, design and manufacturing of equipment and technologies for oil and natural gas drilling, evaluation, completion and production. The company’s core offerings include well construction services such as directional drilling and wellbore positioning, well completion solutions that encompass sand control and zonal isolation technologies, and production enhancement services involving artificial lift systems and well intervention tools.

In addition to its comprehensive service lines, Weatherford provides a range of drilling optimization and reservoir evaluation products.