Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $126.56.

Several brokerages have weighed in on WFRD. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $138.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Benchmark raised their price target on Weatherford International from $115.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. TheStreet upgraded Weatherford International from a “c” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on Weatherford International in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $135.00 target price on the stock.

Weatherford International Price Performance

Shares of WFRD stock opened at $121.01 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $107.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $98.33. Weatherford International has a one year low of $55.81 and a one year high of $127.45. The firm has a market cap of $8.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.42 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 1.79 and a quick ratio of 1.37.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.48. The company had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. Weatherford International had a return on equity of 56.68% and a net margin of 8.12%. The business’s revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.12 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Weatherford International will post 6.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Desmond J. Mills sold 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.04, for a total value of $1,078,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 18,211 shares in the company, valued at $1,785,406.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Weatherford International news, CEO Girish Saligram sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.57, for a total transaction of $6,214,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 146,895 shares in the company, valued at $15,213,915.15. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Desmond J. Mills sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.04, for a total value of $1,078,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 18,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,785,406.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 135,455 shares of company stock valued at $13,628,764. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Weatherford International

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Weatherford International by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,785,384 shares of the company’s stock valued at $703,254,000 after buying an additional 120,401 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Weatherford International by 309.4% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,226,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $609,179,000 after acquiring an additional 4,706,078 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in Weatherford International by 4.2% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,928,501 shares of the company’s stock worth $327,351,000 after acquiring an additional 197,337 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its position in Weatherford International by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,282,581 shares of the company’s stock valued at $223,127,000 after purchasing an additional 76,872 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in Weatherford International by 6.6% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,792,295 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,373,000 after purchasing an additional 111,712 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.23% of the company’s stock.

About Weatherford International

Weatherford International plc, an energy services company, provides equipment and services for the drilling, evaluation, completion, production, and intervention of oil, geothermal, and natural gas wells worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Drilling and Evaluation; Well Construction and Completions; and Production and Intervention.