Van ECK Associates Corp Sells 60,678 Shares of Weatherford International PLC $WFRD

Key Points

• Van ECK Associates trimmed its stake in Weatherford International (NASDAQ: WFRD) by 8.1% in Q3, selling 60,678 shares and leaving it with 691,558 shares valued at about $47.3 million.
• CEO Girish Saligram sold 100,000 shares on Feb. 6 at an average price of $105.50 for roughly $10.55 million, with corporate insiders now owning about 2.09% of the stock.
• Weatherford beat quarterly expectations (EPS $1.91 vs. $1.42; revenue $1.29B) and has seen upward analyst price-target revisions, resulting in a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $97.50; the company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.275.

Van ECK Associates Corp trimmed its position in shares of Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD - Free Report) by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 691,558 shares of the company's stock after selling 60,678 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned 0.96% of Weatherford International worth $47,323,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Weatherford International by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,673,603 shares of the company's stock worth $388,245,000 after acquiring an additional 98,663 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its position in shares of Weatherford International by 1.2% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 140,700 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,628,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 97.9% during the 3rd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 21,152 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,447,000 after buying an additional 10,464 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in Weatherford International by 118.1% in the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 141,503 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,683,000 after buying an additional 76,626 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Inceptionr LLC bought a new stake in Weatherford International during the 3rd quarter valued at $474,000. 97.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Girish Saligram sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.50, for a total value of $10,550,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup raised their price target on Weatherford International from $93.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Weatherford International in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Zacks Research downgraded Weatherford International from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Weatherford International from $82.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $83.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $97.50.

Weatherford International Price Performance

Weatherford International stock opened at $92.69 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $6.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.63 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 $94.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.81. Weatherford International PLC has a 52 week low of $36.74 and a 52 week high of $110.57.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.49. Weatherford International had a return on equity of 28.07% and a net margin of 8.76%.The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.50 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Weatherford International PLC will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Weatherford International Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 6th were paid a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 6th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. This is a boost from Weatherford International's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Weatherford International's dividend payout ratio is presently 18.55%.

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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