Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the ten research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $97.50.

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $93.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $82.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Weatherford International from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Weatherford International from $83.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th.

Insider Activity at Weatherford International

In other news, CEO Girish Saligram sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.50, for a total transaction of $10,550,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Weatherford International

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in Weatherford International by 223.0% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 122,662 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,568,000 after buying an additional 84,684 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Weatherford International by 129.3% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 143,703 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,695,000 after acquiring an additional 81,046 shares during the period. United Services Automobile Association acquired a new position in shares of Weatherford International in the first quarter valued at about $258,000. Fox Run Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of Weatherford International in the second quarter valued at about $406,000. Finally, Profund Advisors LLC increased its position in Weatherford International by 3.7% during the second quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 8,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $434,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares during the period. 97.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Weatherford International Price Performance

NASDAQ:WFRD opened at $92.48 on Wednesday. Weatherford International has a 12-month low of $36.74 and a 12-month high of $110.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.60 and a beta of 0.78. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $94.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 2.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86.

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

Weatherford International Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 6th were issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. This is a boost from Weatherford International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 6th. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.55%.

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.