Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. Has $42.09 Million Position in Weatherford International PLC $WFRD

Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. raised its stake in Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) by 77.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 537,851 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 234,989 shares during the period. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. owned 0.75% of Weatherford International worth $42,092,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WFRD. Holocene Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 712.8% in the second quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 1,646,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,812,000 after purchasing an additional 1,443,512 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 154.3% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,159,192 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,324,000 after purchasing an additional 703,401 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 1,084.6% in the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 686,010 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,513,000 after purchasing an additional 628,100 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 103.1% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,165,753 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,772,000 after purchasing an additional 591,694 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 196.2% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 825,874 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,343,000 after purchasing an additional 547,044 shares during the last quarter. 97.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 transaction of $10,550,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 2.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Weatherford International Stock Performance

Shares of Weatherford International stock opened at $102.78 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $97.21 and a 200-day moving average of $83.52. The stock has a market cap of $7.37 billion, a PE ratio of 17.33 and a beta of 0.83. Weatherford International PLC has a 52-week low of $39.60 and a 52-week high of $110.57. 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 (NASDAQ:WFRD) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.91 earnings per share (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 quarterly revenue was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.50 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Weatherford International PLC will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Weatherford International Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 5th. Investors of record on Friday, February 6th were given a dividend of $0.275 per share. This is a positive change from Weatherford International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 6th. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.55%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on WFRD. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $114.00 to $111.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $93.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Weatherford International from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $94.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $99.78.

Weatherford International 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.