Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $110.3333.

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $105.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Weatherford International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Weatherford International in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $105.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $83.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 14th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WFRD. Holocene Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Weatherford International by 712.8% in 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 during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Weatherford International by 1,040.4% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,244,464 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,392,000 after buying an additional 1,135,338 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Weatherford International in the 4th quarter worth approximately $61,399,000. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Weatherford International by 1,096.6% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 855,752 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,971,000 after buying an additional 784,237 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in Weatherford International by 154.3% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,159,192 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,324,000 after buying an additional 703,401 shares during the period. 97.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Weatherford International Price Performance

Weatherford International stock opened at $108.79 on Monday. Weatherford International has a twelve month low of $42.75 and a twelve month high of $113.15. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $100.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $91.09. The company has a market capitalization of $7.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.47. Weatherford International had a net margin of 9.49% and a return on equity of 28.31%. The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Weatherford International will post 6.13 EPS for the current year.

Weatherford International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 6th will be issued a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 6th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.21%.

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.