Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) Reaches New 12-Month High on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday after Benchmark raised their price target on the stock from $115.00 to $155.00. Benchmark currently has a buy rating on the stock. Weatherford International traded as high as $120.90 and last traded at $120.74, with a volume of 305173 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $115.42.

WFRD has been the subject of several other reports. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Weatherford International in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $135.00 price target for the company. TheStreet upgraded shares of Weatherford International from a "c" rating to a "b" rating in a report on Monday, March 11th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $121.56.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Benjamin Duster sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.98, for a total transaction of $1,163,760.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 12,801 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,241,440.98. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Weatherford International news, EVP Scott C. Weatherholt sold 40,455 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.91, for a total value of $4,001,404.05. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 125,019 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,365,629.29. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Benjamin Duster sold 12,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.98, for a total value of $1,163,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 12,801 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,241,440.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 135,455 shares of company stock worth $13,628,764 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,785,384 shares of the company's stock worth $703,254,000 after acquiring an additional 120,401 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Weatherford International by 309.4% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,226,900 shares of the company's stock worth $609,179,000 after purchasing an additional 4,706,078 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of Weatherford International by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,928,501 shares of the company's stock worth $327,351,000 after purchasing an additional 197,337 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its position in shares of Weatherford International by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,282,581 shares of the company's stock worth $223,127,000 after purchasing an additional 76,872 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Weatherford International by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,792,295 shares of the company's stock worth $106,373,000 after purchasing an additional 111,712 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.23% of the company's stock.

Weatherford International Stock Up 2.5 %

The business has a 50-day moving average of $103.89 and a 200-day moving average of $96.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.94 and a beta of 0.73.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.48. The company had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. Weatherford International had a return on equity of 56.68% and a net margin of 8.12%. Weatherford International's revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.12 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Weatherford International plc will post 6.74 EPS for the current year.

About Weatherford International

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.