Oak Thistle LLC Invests $1.69 Million in Weatherford International PLC $WFRD

Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new position in shares of Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 21,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,692,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Weatherford International during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 83.5% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 556 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 69.8% during the 2nd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 584 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Weatherford International during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Weatherford International during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.23% of the company’s stock.

Weatherford International Trading Up 6.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:WFRD opened at $102.20 on Thursday. Weatherford International PLC has a 1 year low of $38.06 and a 1 year high of $110.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.23 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 2.19 and a quick ratio of 1.65. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $96.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $82.88.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.49. Weatherford International had a return on equity of 28.07% and a net margin of 8.76%.The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.50 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Weatherford International PLC will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Weatherford International Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 6th were given a dividend of $0.275 per share. This is a positive change from Weatherford International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 6th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Weatherford International’s payout ratio is 18.55%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WFRD. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $83.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Zacks Research raised shares of Weatherford International from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Weatherford International in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $105.00 price objective on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $93.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $99.56.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Girish Saligram sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.50, for a total transaction of $10,550,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 2.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.