Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Has $1.36 Million Stake in Weatherford International PLC $WFRD

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) by 270.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 19,860 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,505 shares during the quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Weatherford International were worth $1,359,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Arbiter Partners Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Weatherford International in the third quarter valued at about $684,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Weatherford International by 4.6% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,301,573 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,068,000 after acquiring an additional 57,008 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council bought a new position in Weatherford International during the third quarter valued at about $3,069,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Weatherford International by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 822,117 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,257,000 after acquiring an additional 74,155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Weatherford International by 103.1% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,165,753 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,772,000 after acquiring an additional 591,694 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.23% of the company’s stock.

Weatherford International Trading Down 3.7%

Shares of WFRD opened at $90.80 on Monday. 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 stock has a market cap of $6.51 billion, a PE ratio of 15.31 and a beta of 0.78. Weatherford International PLC has a 1 year low of $36.74 and a 1 year high of $110.57. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $93.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.26.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last announced 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 return on equity of 28.07% and a net margin of 8.76%.The business 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 firm earned $1.50 EPS. Weatherford International’s quarterly revenue was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Weatherford International PLC will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Weatherford International Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 6th were paid a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 6th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. This is a boost from Weatherford International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.55%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Weatherford International from $93.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. UBS Group upped their target price on Weatherford International from $82.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Weatherford International from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. Zacks Research lowered shares of Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Weatherford International in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. 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 target price of $97.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Weatherford International

In related news, CEO Girish Saligram sold 100,000 shares of the 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.60% 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.