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

Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $110.3333.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WFRD. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Weatherford International from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. 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 note on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group lifted their price target 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 raised shares of Weatherford International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 14th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Weatherford International

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Weatherford International by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,219 shares of the company’s stock worth $252,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Weatherford International by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Weatherford International by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $385,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Weatherford International by 4.1% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,851 shares of the company’s stock worth $364,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC increased its stake in Weatherford International by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 7,711 shares of the company’s stock worth $603,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. 97.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Weatherford International Price Performance

WFRD stock opened at $103.64 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $102.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $92.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market cap of $7.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.82. Weatherford International has a 52-week low of $42.75 and a 52-week high of $113.15.

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

Weatherford International Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 6th. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio is 17.21%.

About Weatherford International

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.