Vanguard Group Inc. Has $595.65 Million Stock Position in Weatherford International PLC $WFRD

Key Points

• Vanguard trimmed its stake in Weatherford by 1.6% to 7,611,148 shares (about 10.61% of the company) valued at roughly $595.65 million, while institutional ownership stands at 97.23% and several hedge funds materially increased their holdings.
• Wall Street sentiment is largely positive with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $103.22, and some firms raising targets (Citigroup $115, UBS $113, RBC $105).
• Weatherford recently beat quarterly EPS estimates ($1.49 vs. $1.02), declared a $0.275 quarterly dividend (1.0% yield), and the CEO sold 100,000 shares for about $10.55 million; the company has a $7.88 billion market cap and a P/E of 17.13.

Vanguard Group Inc. decreased its stake in Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD - Free Report) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,611,148 shares of the company's stock after selling 125,826 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 10.61% of Weatherford International worth $595,648,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WFRD. Holocene Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 712.8% in 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 during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 154.3% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 1,084.6% in the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 686,010 shares of the company's stock worth $34,513,000 after acquiring an additional 628,100 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 103.1% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,165,753 shares of the company's stock worth $79,772,000 after acquiring an additional 591,694 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 196.2% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 825,874 shares of the company's stock worth $41,343,000 after acquiring an additional 547,044 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.23% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $93.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Weatherford International in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $105.00 price objective on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Weatherford International from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Weatherford International from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Weatherford International from $105.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. 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, Weatherford International presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $103.22.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Weatherford International news, CEO Girish Saligram sold 100,000 shares of Weatherford International stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.50, for a total transaction of $10,550,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 2.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Weatherford International Price Performance

WFRD opened at $109.49 on Monday. Weatherford International PLC has a fifty-two week low of $42.57 and a fifty-two week high of $112.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 1.73. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $97.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.25. The company has a market capitalization of $7.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.87.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Weatherford International PLC will post 5.97 EPS for the current year.

Weatherford International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 6th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Weatherford International's payout ratio is currently 17.21%.

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.

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