First Trust Advisors LP Increases Stock Position in Weatherford International PLC $WFRD

Key Points

• First Trust Advisors LP increased its Weatherford International stake by 12.4% in the first quarter, buying an additional 194,654 shares and bringing its total holding to 1.76 million shares worth about $166.5 million.
• Weatherford reported mixed quarterly results: revenue of $1.10 billion beat estimates, but earnings of $0.55 per share missed consensus by a wide margin and were down sharply from a year earlier.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.275 per share, or $1.10 annually, alongside ongoing shareholder returns and a planned stock-and-cash acquisition of NCS Multistage to expand its completions business.

First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD - Free Report) by 12.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,760,467 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 194,654 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 2.45% of Weatherford International worth $166,505,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WFRD. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake 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 valued at $403,571,000 after buying an additional 281,984 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its stake 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 worth $150,903,000 after acquiring an additional 66,553 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP increased its stake in Weatherford International by 712.8% in the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Weatherford International by 1,040.4% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,244,464 shares of the company's stock valued at $97,392,000 after acquiring an additional 1,135,338 shares during the last quarter. 97.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Weatherford International Trading Up 4.5%

WFRD stock opened at $87.11 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. Weatherford International PLC has a twelve month low of $52.70 and a twelve month high of $113.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.86. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $94.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $95.86.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.07 billion. Weatherford International had a net margin of 7.66% and a return on equity of 21.86%. The company's revenue was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.87 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Weatherford International PLC will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Weatherford International Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 6th will be given a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 6th. Weatherford International's dividend payout ratio is 21.70%.

Key Weatherford International News

Here are the key news stories impacting Weatherford International this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Weatherford announced a quarterly dividend of $0.275 per share, signaling continued shareholder returns and cash generation.
• Positive Sentiment: The company said it will acquire NCS Multistage in a stock-and-cash deal, which should expand its well completions portfolio and broaden its growth opportunities. Weatherford Announces Second Quarter 2026 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Weatherford also highlighted $36 million in quarterly shareholder returns, including $20 million in dividends and $16 million in share repurchases, which may support the stock.
• Neutral Sentiment: Management introduced an updated plan to redomesticate from Ireland to Delaware, a longer-term corporate move that could reshape the investment case but does not have an immediate operating impact.
• Neutral Sentiment: The company also won several Managed Pressure Drilling contracts, providing additional backlog and activity, though the near-term financial impact appears limited.
• Negative Sentiment: Second-quarter earnings came in at $0.55 per share, well below estimates, and net income fell sharply year over year, underscoring pressure on profitability. How Mixed Q2 Results, Buybacks, and NCS Deal At Weatherford (WFRD) Have Changed Its Investment Story
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue of about $1.1 billion was down sequentially, and the company’s own Q3 and full-year revenue guidance appears to be below or only around consensus, which may temper enthusiasm after the report.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WFRD. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Weatherford International from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, July 4th. Raymond James Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $156.00 to $154.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Citigroup decreased 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. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Weatherford International from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $113.78.

Weatherford International 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.

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