15,034 Shares in Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD) Purchased by Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 15,034 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,077,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 59.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 31,349 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,663,000 after purchasing an additional 11,680 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 56.7% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,048 shares of the company's stock valued at $218,000 after purchasing an additional 1,103 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Weatherford International in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Oakworth Capital Inc. grew its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 114.5% in the 4th quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 3,899 shares of the company's stock valued at $279,000 after purchasing an additional 2,081 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in Weatherford International by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 95,190 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,818,000 after buying an additional 24,637 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.23% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on WFRD shares. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $85.00 to $77.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Weatherford International from a "strong-buy" rating to an "outperform" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $73.00 to $69.00 in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $90.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $80.00 to $62.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Benchmark lowered their price objective on Weatherford International from $140.00 to $125.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $96.63.

Weatherford International Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WFRD traded down $1.58 during trading on Friday, hitting $44.07. 1,399,578 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,173,002. The company has a market cap of $3.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.56, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.73. Weatherford International plc has a 1 year low of $36.74 and a 1 year high of $135.00. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $45.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $61.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 1.49.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.21 billion. Weatherford International had a net margin of 9.18% and a return on equity of 40.65%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Weatherford International plc will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Weatherford International Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 6th. Weatherford International's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Neal P. Goldman purchased 12,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $42.04 per share, with a total value of $504,480.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 25,311 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,064,074.44. The trade was a 90.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 2.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Weatherford International

Weatherford International plc, an energy services company, provides equipment and services for the drilling, evaluation, completion, production, and intervention of oil, geothermal, and natural gas wells worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Drilling and Evaluation; Well Construction and Completions; and Production and Intervention.