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

Alps Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 7,320 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $501,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Holocene Advisors LP lifted 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 buying an additional 1,443,512 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised 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 during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Weatherford International in the second quarter valued at $41,542,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted 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 worth $34,513,000 after buying an additional 628,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Weatherford International by 196.2% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. 97.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Weatherford International Stock Down 2.8%

WFRD opened at $100.70 on Friday. Weatherford International PLC has a fifty-two week low of $36.74 and a fifty-two week high of $106.41. 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 stock has a market cap of $7.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.98 and a beta of 0.79. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $86.56 and its 200 day moving average is $72.91.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $1.29 billion for 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.50 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Weatherford International PLC will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Weatherford International Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 5th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. This is an increase from Weatherford International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.55%.

Insider Transactions at Weatherford International

In other 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Kristin Ruzicka sold 2,129 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 2.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on WFRD shares. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Weatherford International from $77.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Weatherford International from $82.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Weatherford International from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $111.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Weatherford International in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Weatherford International currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.50.

About Weatherford International

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.