Wall Street Zen Upgrades Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) to Strong-Buy

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Sunday.

Several other research firms have also commented on WFRD. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Weatherford International from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Weatherford International from $83.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Weatherford International from $82.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Weatherford International in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Weatherford International currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.50.

Weatherford International Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ WFRD opened at $90.95 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $6.52 billion, a PE ratio of 15.34 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. Weatherford International has a 12-month low of $36.74 and a 12-month high of $110.57. The company has a 50-day moving average of $94.21 and a 200 day moving average of $78.49.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.49. Weatherford International had a return on equity of 28.07% and a net margin of 8.76%.The business had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.50 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Weatherford International will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Weatherford International

In other news, CEO Girish Saligram sold 100,000 shares of Weatherford International stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.50, for a total value of $10,550,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Weatherford International

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Weatherford International by 712.8% during the second quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 1,646,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,812,000 after purchasing an additional 1,443,512 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 1,040.4% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,244,464 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,392,000 after purchasing an additional 1,135,338 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in Weatherford International by 1,005.3% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,056,407 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,148,000 after buying an additional 960,832 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Weatherford International during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,542,000. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its position in Weatherford International by 1,096.6% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 855,752 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,971,000 after buying an additional 784,237 shares during the period. 97.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.