Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Reduces Stock Holdings in Weatherford International PLC $WFRD

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD reduced its stake in Weatherford International PLC by 21.1% in Q1, owning approximately 6.15% of the company after selling over 1.1 million shares.
• Weatherford International recently reported earnings of $1.87 per share, significantly exceeding expectations, with quarterly revenue of $1.20 billion, though down 14.3% year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.25, with a yield of 1.6% and plans to distribute it on September 4th to shareholders recorded by August 6th.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD reduced its position in Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD - Free Report) by 21.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,464,257 shares of the company's stock after selling 1,197,099 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 6.15% of Weatherford International worth $239,062,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 546.7% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 595 shares of the company's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 503 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 30,600.0% in the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 614 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 612 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 55.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 645 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares during the period. Mattson Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Weatherford International during the fourth quarter worth approximately $73,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 1,002.0% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,091 shares of the company's stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 992 shares during the last quarter. 97.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup cut their price target on Weatherford International from $90.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Zacks Research upgraded Weatherford International from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and set a $70.00 price target (up previously from $69.00) on shares of Weatherford International in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Melius Research assumed coverage on Weatherford International in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a "buy" rating and a $108.00 price target for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded Weatherford International from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $62.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Weatherford International currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $99.70.

Weatherford International Price Performance

NASDAQ:WFRD traded down $0.44 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $63.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 148,435 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,298,064. The business's 50-day moving average is $55.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.55. The company has a market capitalization of $4.57 billion, a PE ratio of 9.83, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 2.21. Weatherford International PLC has a 52-week low of $36.74 and a 52-week high of $106.47.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.90. The firm had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.19 billion. Weatherford International had a return on equity of 34.87% and a net margin of 9.35%.Weatherford International's revenue was down 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.66 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Weatherford International PLC will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Weatherford International Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 6th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 6th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Weatherford International's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.