Alberta Investment Management Corp Acquires Shares of 49,200 Weatherford International PLC $WFRD

Alberta Investment Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 49,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,367,000. Alberta Investment Management Corp owned approximately 0.07% of Weatherford International as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WFRD. Holocene Advisors LP grew its stake in Weatherford International by 712.8% during the 2nd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 1,646,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,812,000 after acquiring an additional 1,443,512 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position 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 valued at $53,148,000 after purchasing an additional 960,832 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Weatherford International in the second quarter valued at approximately $41,542,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in Weatherford International by 1,084.6% during the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 686,010 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,513,000 after buying an additional 628,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Weatherford International by 196.2% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 825,874 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,343,000 after buying an additional 547,044 shares during the last quarter. 97.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on WFRD. Citigroup lifted their price target on Weatherford International from $93.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Weatherford International from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, February 15th. Zacks Research cut shares of Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Weatherford International from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Weatherford International in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $93.25.

Weatherford International Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WFRD opened at $105.54 on Friday. Weatherford International PLC has a fifty-two week low of $36.74 and a fifty-two week high of $107.13. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $88.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $74.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.80 and a beta of 0.79.

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. Weatherford International had a return on equity of 28.07% and a net margin of 8.76%.The company had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.50 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Weatherford International PLC will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Weatherford International Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 5th. Investors of record on Friday, February 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. This is a positive change from Weatherford International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 6th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.55%.

Insider Activity

In other Weatherford International news, EVP Kristin Ruzicka sold 2,129 shares of Weatherford International stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was 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 directly owned 15,673 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,210,739.25. The trade was a 11.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Girish Saligram sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.50, for a total transaction of $10,550,000.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 2.09% of the company’s stock.

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.