Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Buys 8,208 Shares of Weatherford International PLC $WFRD

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its stake in shares of Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) by 37.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 30,140 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 8,208 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in Weatherford International were worth $2,062,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,443,512 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 1,005.3% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,056,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,148,000 after purchasing an additional 960,832 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Weatherford International during the second quarter worth about $41,542,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 1,084.6% in the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 686,010 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,513,000 after buying an additional 628,100 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 547,044 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Weatherford International news, EVP Kristin Ruzicka sold 2,129 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.25, for a total value of $164,465.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 15,673 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,210,739.25. The trade was a 11.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 2.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on WFRD shares. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Weatherford International in a report on Friday, October 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $82.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Weatherford International from $66.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. 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. Zacks Research lowered shares of Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $77.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Weatherford International has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.00.

Weatherford International Stock Up 0.0%

Weatherford International stock opened at $94.08 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a current ratio of 2.07. The stock has a market cap of $6.75 billion, a PE ratio of 17.04 and a beta of 0.79. Weatherford International PLC has a fifty-two week low of $36.74 and a fifty-two week high of $96.15. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $81.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.07.

Weatherford International Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 5th. Investors of record on Friday, February 6th will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 6th. This is a positive change 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 1.2%. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.12%.

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.