Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) Lowered to “Buy” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. UBS Group increased their price target on Weatherford International from $82.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Weatherford International in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $111.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Weatherford International from $93.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.25.

Weatherford International Stock Performance

WFRD stock opened at $105.46 on Friday. Weatherford International has a one year low of $36.74 and a one year high of $108.14. The firm has a market cap of $7.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.78 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. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $92.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.57.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.49. The company had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.26 billion. Weatherford International had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 28.07%. Weatherford International’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.50 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Weatherford International will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Weatherford International

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Holocene Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Weatherford International by 712.8% during the 2nd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 1,646,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,812,000 after purchasing an additional 1,443,512 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Weatherford International by 1,040.4% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,244,464 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,392,000 after acquiring an additional 1,135,338 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 1,005.3% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,056,407 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,148,000 after acquiring an additional 960,832 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Weatherford International during the second quarter worth approximately $41,542,000. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its stake in Weatherford International by 1,096.6% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 855,752 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,971,000 after purchasing an additional 784,237 shares during the last quarter. 97.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.