Wellington Management Group LLP Decreases Holdings in Weatherford International PLC $WFRD

Key Points

• Wellington Management reduced its Weatherford International stake by 6.3% in the second quarter, selling 23,308 shares and retaining 345,676 shares valued at approximately $28.2 million. Institutional investors collectively own 97.23% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment remains generally positive, with seven Buy, two Hold, and one Sell rating, resulting in a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $114.25. However, recent opinions were mixed, including a Zacks downgrade to Strong Sell and a UBS upgrade to Buy.
• Weatherford reported quarterly EPS of $0.55, missing the $0.90 consensus estimate, while revenue of $1.10 billion exceeded expectations but fell 8.2% year over year. Two directors also sold shares, and the company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.275, equivalent to a 1.1% annual yield.

Wellington Management Group LLP reduced its position in Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD - Free Report) by 6.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 345,676 shares of the company's stock after selling 23,308 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP owned approximately 0.48% of Weatherford International worth $28,173,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WFRD. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Weatherford International by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,219 shares of the company's stock valued at $252,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Weatherford International by 24.2% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 704 shares of the company's stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,914 shares of the company's stock worth $385,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 4.1% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,851 shares of the company's stock worth $364,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 127.1% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 318 shares of the company's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.23% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on WFRD shares. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Weatherford International from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Weatherford International from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. UBS Group upgraded Weatherford International from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $113.00 to $114.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Wall Street Zen cut Weatherford International from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 4th. Finally, Raymond James Financial decreased their price objective on Weatherford International from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $114.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Weatherford International news, Director Neal Goldman sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total transaction of $1,357,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 12,187 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,033,945.08. This trade represents a 56.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Jacqueline Mutschler sold 4,094 shares of Weatherford International stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.50, for a total transaction of $370,507.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 29,093 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,632,916.50. This represents a 12.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 26,094 shares of company stock worth $2,244,487. 2.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Weatherford International Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of WFRD stock opened at $95.88 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.91, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.90. Weatherford International PLC has a one year low of $60.23 and a one year high of $113.15. The company's fifty day moving average price is $87.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $95.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 2.34 and a quick ratio of 1.77.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.35). Weatherford International had a net margin of 7.66% and a return on equity of 21.50%. The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.87 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Weatherford International PLC will post 5.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Weatherford International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 6th were paid a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 6th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Weatherford International's dividend payout ratio is 21.70%.

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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