Weatherford International PLC $WFRD Shares Purchased by First Trust Advisors LP

Key Points

• First Trust Advisors increased its stake in Weatherford by 43.5% to 1,572,422 shares (about 2.19% of the company), worth roughly $107.6 million.
• CEO Girish Saligram sold 100,000 shares on Feb. 6 at an average price of $105.50, totaling about $10.55 million.
• Weatherford beat quarterly estimates with EPS of $1.91 and revenue of $1.29 billion, and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.275 (annualized $1.10, ~1.2% yield).

First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD - Free Report) by 43.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,572,422 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 476,575 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 2.19% of Weatherford International worth $107,601,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Weatherford International in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Weatherford International during the 3rd quarter worth $35,000. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Weatherford International during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 83.5% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 556 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 69.8% in the second quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 584 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.23% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Weatherford International

In other news, CEO Girish Saligram sold 100,000 shares of Weatherford International stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.50, for a total value of $10,550,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on WFRD shares. Zacks Research cut shares of Weatherford International from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Weatherford International from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Sunday. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Weatherford International from $93.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Weatherford International from $82.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Weatherford International from $111.00 to $109.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Weatherford International currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $97.50.

Weatherford International Price Performance

Weatherford International stock opened at $90.80 on Monday. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $93.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $78.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a current ratio of 2.19. Weatherford International PLC has a 1 year low of $36.74 and a 1 year high of $110.57. The company has a market capitalization of $6.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.31 and a beta of 0.78.

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

Weatherford International Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 6th were given a dividend of $0.275 per share. This is an increase from Weatherford International's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 6th. Weatherford International's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.55%.

Weatherford International 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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