49,200 Shares in Weatherford International PLC $WFRD Bought by Alberta Investment Management Corp

Alberta Investment Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 49,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,367,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WFRD. Holocene Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Weatherford International by 712.8% during the second 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. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Weatherford International by 94.9% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,095,847 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,132,000 after acquiring an additional 533,635 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in Weatherford International by 1,005.3% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,056,407 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,148,000 after acquiring an additional 960,832 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Weatherford International by 196.2% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Weatherford International in the 2nd quarter valued at $41,542,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted 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. Barclays lowered their price objective on Weatherford International from $111.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised Weatherford International from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 15th. Citigroup upped their price target on Weatherford International from $93.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $66.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Weatherford International presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $93.25.

Weatherford International Stock Performance

Shares of WFRD opened at $105.54 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market cap of $7.57 billion, a PE ratio of 17.80 and a beta of 0.79. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $88.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.50. Weatherford International PLC has a 12-month low of $36.74 and a 12-month high of $107.13.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.49. Weatherford International had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 28.07%. The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.50 EPS. Weatherford International’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Weatherford International PLC will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Weatherford International Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 an increase 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 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 6th. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio is 18.55%.

Insider Activity

In other Weatherford International news, CEO Girish Saligram sold 100,000 shares of the company’s 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Kristin Ruzicka sold 2,129 shares of Weatherford International 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 15,673 shares in the company, valued at $1,210,739.25. This trade represents a 11.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 2.09% of the company’s stock.

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.