Barclays Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) Stock Price

Key Points

• Barclays lowered its price target on Weatherford International from $154 to $151, while keeping an overweight rating. The new target still implies about 69.93% upside from the current price.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed overall: Weatherford has a Moderate Buy consensus with a $113.44 average price target, but several firms recently adjusted ratings and targets in both directions.
• Weatherford recently reported Q2 EPS of $0.55, missing expectations of $0.90, even though revenue of $1.10 billion topped estimates. Revenue fell 8.2% year over year.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD - Get Free Report) had its target price reduced by research analysts at Barclays from $154.00 to $151.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "overweight" rating on the stock. Barclays's target price suggests a potential upside of 69.93% from the company's current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on WFRD. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $105.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research 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 report on Friday, July 10th. Zacks Research cut Weatherford International from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Weatherford International from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $137.00 to $115.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $113.44.

Weatherford International Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WFRD traded up $3.26 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $88.86. 303,487 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,346,079. The company has a current ratio of 3.41, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Weatherford International has a twelve month low of $52.70 and a twelve month high of $113.15. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $93.66 and a 200 day moving average of $95.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.86.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.35). Weatherford International had a return on equity of 21.50% and a net margin of 7.66%.The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.87 EPS. Weatherford International's revenue was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Weatherford International will post 5.9 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WFRD. Holocene Advisors LP raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 1,443,512 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake 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 worth $97,392,000 after purchasing an additional 1,135,338 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Weatherford International in the fourth quarter valued at about $61,399,000. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Weatherford International by 1,096.6% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 855,752 shares of the company's stock worth $66,971,000 after buying an additional 784,237 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Weatherford International by 154.3% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,159,192 shares of the company's stock worth $79,324,000 after acquiring an additional 703,401 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.23% of the company's stock.

About Weatherford International

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.

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