Wall Street Zen Upgrades Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) to Strong-Buy

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Sunday.

WFRD has been the topic of a number of other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $66.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Weatherford International from $93.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays dropped their target price on Weatherford International from $111.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Weatherford International from $82.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $93.25.

Weatherford International Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of WFRD stock opened at $101.42 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $87.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $73.31. Weatherford International has a 1-year low of $36.74 and a 1-year high of $106.41. The company has a market cap of $7.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.10 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 2.19 and a quick ratio of 1.65.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last posted 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 the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the company posted $1.50 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Weatherford International will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Weatherford International

In other Weatherford International news, CEO Girish Saligram sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kristin Ruzicka sold 2,129 shares of Weatherford International stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.25, for a total value of $164,465.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 15,673 shares in the company, 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 corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Weatherford International

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Weatherford International in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $167,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in Weatherford International by 281.3% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 976 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 720 shares during the last quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP increased its stake in Weatherford International by 223.5% during the fourth quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 186,984 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,633,000 after acquiring an additional 129,176 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Weatherford International in the fourth quarter valued at $82,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 127.1% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 318 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. 97.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.