Legal & General Group Plc Lowers Holdings in Weatherford International PLC $WFRD

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its stake in shares of Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) by 29.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 115,800 shares of the company’s stock after selling 48,952 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Weatherford International were worth $9,060,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,443,512 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in Weatherford International by 154.3% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,159,192 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,324,000 after buying an additional 703,401 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its position in Weatherford International by 1,084.6% during the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 686,010 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,513,000 after buying an additional 628,100 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Weatherford International by 103.1% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Weatherford International by 196.2% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 825,874 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,343,000 after buying an additional 547,044 shares in the last quarter. 97.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Weatherford International Stock Down 0.3%

WFRD stock opened at $103.73 on Friday. Weatherford International PLC has a 52 week low of $46.20 and a 52 week high of $113.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $103.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $93.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.82.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.47. Weatherford International had a net margin of 9.49% and a return on equity of 28.31%. The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.03 EPS. Weatherford International’s quarterly revenue was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Weatherford International PLC will post 6.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Weatherford International Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 6th were given a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 6th. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research lowered shares of Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Wall Street Zen raised Weatherford International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Weatherford International from $83.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Weatherford International from $134.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on Weatherford International from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Weatherford International has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $110.67.

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.