Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Purchases Shares of 34,677 Weatherford International PLC $WFRD

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 34,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,280,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WFRD. Holocene Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 712.8% in the 2nd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 1,646,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,812,000 after purchasing an additional 1,443,512 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 1,040.4% during 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 last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Weatherford International during the 4th quarter worth $61,399,000. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of 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 raised its position in shares of 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 currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on WFRD. Zacks Research raised Weatherford International from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Weatherford International from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Weatherford International from $137.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Weatherford International from $83.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $111.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Weatherford International currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $108.22.

Weatherford International Price Performance

WFRD opened at $81.50 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $101.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $95.43. The firm has a market cap of $5.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.75, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.82. Weatherford International PLC has a twelve month low of $49.47 and a twelve month high of $113.15. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

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

Weatherford International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 6th were paid a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 6th. 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.