Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Increases Stake in Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD)

Key Points

• Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Weatherford International PLC by 107.4% during the first quarter, accumulating a total of 28,514 shares worth approximately $1.5 million.
• Several brokerages have revised their price targets for Weatherford International, with Piper Sandler raising it to $73.00 while Barclays set theirs at $73.00 after a decrease from $77.00.
• The company reported a net margin of 9.35% and revenue of $1.20 billion for the last quarter, although this represents a year-over-year decline of 14.3%.

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD - Free Report) by 107.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,514 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 14,764 shares during the quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Weatherford International were worth $1,527,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WFRD. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Weatherford International by 295.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,945,755 shares of the company's stock worth $425,894,000 after purchasing an additional 4,443,823 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Weatherford International by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,402,833 shares of the company's stock worth $315,375,000 after acquiring an additional 298,811 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Weatherford International by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,638,934 shares of the company's stock worth $260,657,000 after acquiring an additional 65,931 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Weatherford International during the fourth quarter worth $104,287,000. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Weatherford International by 181.7% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,303,007 shares of the company's stock worth $93,334,000 after acquiring an additional 840,456 shares during the last quarter. 97.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WFRD has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $90.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $77.00 to $73.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and set a $70.00 target price (up previously from $69.00) on shares of Weatherford International in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Weatherford International from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $97.63.

Weatherford International Price Performance

Weatherford International stock traded down $1.81 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $54.74. 977,378 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,036,229. The company has a market cap of $3.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.47, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $52.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $53.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. Weatherford International PLC has a 12-month low of $36.74 and a 12-month high of $111.23.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.90. The company had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.19 billion. Weatherford International had a net margin of 9.35% and a return on equity of 34.87%. Weatherford International's revenue was down 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.66 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Weatherford International PLC will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Weatherford International Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 6th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 6th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Weatherford International's dividend payout ratio is currently 15.48%.

Weatherford International Profile

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.