Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) Upgraded at UBS Group

UBS Group upgraded shares of Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $114.00 price target on the stock, up from their prior price target of $113.00.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Weatherford International from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Raymond James Financial decreased their target price on Weatherford International from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen cut Weatherford International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 4th. Zacks Research cut Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Weatherford International from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Weatherford International currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $113.56.

Weatherford International Trading Up 3.6%

WFRD stock opened at $87.79 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 2.34 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $90.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $95.71. Weatherford International has a one year low of $52.70 and a one year high of $113.15. The stock has a market cap of $6.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.86.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.35). The company had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. Weatherford International had a net margin of 7.66% and a return on equity of 21.50%. Weatherford International’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.87 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Weatherford International will post 5.35 EPS for the current year.

Weatherford International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 6th will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 6th. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Benjamin Duster sold 6,000 shares of Weatherford International stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.09, for a total value of $516,540.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 11,187 shares in the company, valued at approximately $963,088.83. The trade was a 34.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Neal P. Goldman sold 16,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total value of $1,357,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 12,187 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,033,945.08. This trade represents a 56.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 2.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Weatherford International by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,156,773 shares of the company’s stock worth $403,571,000 after purchasing an additional 281,984 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Weatherford International by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,928,226 shares of the company’s stock valued at $150,903,000 after buying an additional 66,553 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in Weatherford International by 12.4% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,760,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $166,505,000 after buying an additional 194,654 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Weatherford International by 712.8% in the 2nd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 1,646,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,812,000 after buying an additional 1,443,512 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 18.3% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,539,727 shares of the company’s stock worth $120,505,000 after acquiring an additional 238,154 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.23% of the company’s stock.

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.