Insider Selling: Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) Director Sells $516,540.00 in Stock

Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) Director Benjamin Duster sold 6,000 shares of Weatherford International stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.09, for a total value of $516,540.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 11,187 shares in the company, valued at approximately $963,088.83. This represents a 34.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Weatherford International Stock Up 2.9%

NASDAQ:WFRD opened at $84.71 on Friday. Weatherford International PLC has a 1 year low of $52.70 and a 1 year high of $113.15. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $91.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $95.77. The stock has a market cap of $6.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.71, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 2.34, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.35). Weatherford International had a return on equity of 21.50% and a net margin of 7.66%.The business had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.87 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Weatherford International PLC will post 5.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Weatherford International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 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 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 6th. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.70%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Weatherford International

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WFRD. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 64,018 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,135,000 after acquiring an additional 3,797 shares in the last quarter. Foster Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Weatherford International in the second quarter worth $739,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Weatherford International by 9.0% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,191 shares of the company’s stock worth $179,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its position in Weatherford International by 89.8% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 18,869 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,785,000 after purchasing an additional 8,925 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Weatherford International by 32.8% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WFRD. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Weatherford International from $154.00 to $151.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Weatherford International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 4th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $137.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Weatherford International from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $113.56.

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.