Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD) has received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $145.00.

WFRD has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Weatherford International from $130.00 to $151.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. TheStreet upgraded Weatherford International from a “c” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Weatherford International in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Weatherford International from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Weatherford International from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th.

Insider Activity at Weatherford International

In other Weatherford International news, EVP Scott C. Weatherholt sold 40,455 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.91, for a total transaction of $4,001,404.05. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,019 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,365,629.29. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Weatherford International news, EVP Scott C. Weatherholt sold 40,455 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.91, for a total transaction of $4,001,404.05. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,019 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,365,629.29. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Charles M. Sledge sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.47, for a total value of $1,234,700.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 32,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,041,049.63. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 145,455 shares of company stock worth $14,863,464 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WFRD. Van ECK Associates Corp acquired a new position in shares of Weatherford International during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $114,430,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Weatherford International in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $89,762,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its holdings in Weatherford International by 1,261.1% in the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 381,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,425,000 after acquiring an additional 353,100 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Weatherford International by 101.1% in the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 656,738 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,309,000 after acquiring an additional 330,133 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Weatherford International by 1,564.7% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 281,174 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,398,000 after acquiring an additional 264,284 shares during the last quarter. 97.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Weatherford International Stock Performance

Shares of WFRD opened at $122.60 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $115.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $101.74. Weatherford International has a one year low of $55.81 and a one year high of $129.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market cap of $8.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.71.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.33 billion. Weatherford International had a return on equity of 52.88% and a net margin of 8.61%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.97 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Weatherford International will post 6.94 EPS for the current year.

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.