Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC Buys 90,000 Shares of Weatherford International PLC $WFRD

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) by 225.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 130,000 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 90,000 shares during the quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Weatherford International were worth $8,896,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Holocene Advisors LP increased its stake in Weatherford International by 712.8% during the 2nd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 1,646,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,812,000 after purchasing an additional 1,443,512 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in Weatherford International by 1,005.3% in the second 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 last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Weatherford International in the second quarter worth approximately $41,542,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 1,084.6% in the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 686,010 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,513,000 after buying an additional 628,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 103.1% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,165,753 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,772,000 after buying an additional 591,694 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.23% of the company’s stock.

Weatherford International Trading Up 1.7%

Weatherford International stock opened at $86.53 on Monday. Weatherford International PLC has a 52-week low of $36.74 and a 52-week high of $110.57. The company has a market cap of $6.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.59 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 2.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $95.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $79.26.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.26 billion. Weatherford International had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 28.07%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.50 EPS. Analysts predict that Weatherford International PLC will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Weatherford International Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 6th were issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. This is an increase from Weatherford International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 6th. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.55%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WFRD. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Weatherford International in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Barclays cut their target price on Weatherford International from $111.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Wall Street Zen cut Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Weatherford International from $83.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Weatherford International from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Girish Saligram sold 100,000 shares of Weatherford International stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.50, for a total transaction of $10,550,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.60% 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.