Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) Receives $113.56 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $113.5556.

WFRD has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays cut their target price on Weatherford International from $154.00 to $151.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Weatherford International from $137.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 26th. UBS Group upgraded Weatherford International from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $113.00 to $114.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered Weatherford International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Weatherford International from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Weatherford International

In other Weatherford International news, Director Benjamin Duster sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.09, for a total value of $516,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 11,187 shares in the company, valued at approximately $963,088.83. This represents a 34.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Neal P. Goldman sold 16,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total transaction of $1,357,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 12,187 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,033,945.08. This represents a 56.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 2.08% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Weatherford International

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Weatherford International by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,156,773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $403,571,000 after acquiring an additional 281,984 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Weatherford International by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,928,226 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,903,000 after acquiring an additional 66,553 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Weatherford International by 12.4% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,760,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $166,505,000 after acquiring an additional 194,654 shares in the last quarter. 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 purchasing an additional 1,443,512 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 18.3% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,539,727 shares of the company’s stock valued at $120,505,000 after purchasing an additional 238,154 shares during the period. 97.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Weatherford International Trading Up 7.0%

Shares of WFRD opened at $92.90 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.32, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $88.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $95.95. Weatherford International has a twelve month low of $52.70 and a twelve month high of $113.15.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.35). The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. Weatherford International had a return on equity of 21.50% and a net margin of 7.66%.Weatherford International’s revenue was down 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.87 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Weatherford International will post 5.35 EPS for the current year.

Weatherford International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 6th will be paid a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 6th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.70%.

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.