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

Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD) has earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the seven ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $147.29.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WFRD. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $149.00 to $142.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Weatherford International from $154.00 to $147.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $145.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Weatherford International in a report on Thursday, October 24th.

Weatherford International Stock Down 1.7 %

NASDAQ WFRD opened at $84.38 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.60. Weatherford International has a 52 week low of $77.00 and a 52 week high of $135.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a current ratio of 2.04. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $86.80 and a 200-day moving average of $104.28.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $1.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.42 billion. Weatherford International had a return on equity of 46.25% and a net margin of 9.65%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.66 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Weatherford International will post 6.91 EPS for the current year.

Weatherford International Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 6th. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.04%.

Insider Activity

In other Weatherford International news, EVP David John Reed sold 6,805 shares of Weatherford International stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.96, for a total value of $639,397.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Desmond J. Mills sold 6,531 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.86, for a total transaction of $521,565.66. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 11,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $932,764.80. This represents a 35.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WFRD. First Hawaiian Bank bought a new position in shares of Weatherford International in the second quarter valued at $1,653,000. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in Weatherford International by 107.2% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 23,527 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,715,000 after acquiring an additional 12,170 shares in the last quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Weatherford International in the second quarter valued at $20,584,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Weatherford International by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,409,020 shares of the company’s stock valued at $739,730,000 after acquiring an additional 182,120 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new position in shares of Weatherford International during the 1st quarter worth about $2,132,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.23% of the company’s stock.

Weatherford International Company Profile

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.