Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $97.50.

WFRD has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on Weatherford International from $111.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Weatherford International from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Weatherford International from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Weatherford International in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $82.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Girish Saligram sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The shares were 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 this link. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Weatherford International by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,914 shares of the company’s stock worth $385,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp increased its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 57.1% in the 4th quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 77,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,049,000 after purchasing an additional 28,100 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 69,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,414,000 after buying an additional 3,094 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 93,139 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,356,000 after buying an additional 13,656 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Weatherford International by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,928,226 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,903,000 after buying an additional 66,553 shares during the last quarter. 97.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Weatherford International Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of WFRD opened at $92.48 on Wednesday. Weatherford International has a 12 month low of $36.74 and a 12 month high of $110.57. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $94.48 and its 200-day moving average is $78.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.63 billion, a PE ratio of 15.60 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.26 billion. Weatherford International had a return on equity of 28.07% and a net margin of 8.76%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.50 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Weatherford International will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Weatherford International Increases Dividend

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

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.