Nicholas Investment Partners LP Sells 26,605 Shares of Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD)

Nicholas Investment Partners LP trimmed its stake in Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD - Free Report) by 25.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 76,653 shares of the company's stock after selling 26,605 shares during the quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP owned approximately 0.11% of Weatherford International worth $5,491,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 331,585 shares of the company's stock valued at $23,751,000 after buying an additional 11,756 shares in the last quarter. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Weatherford International during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 7,596 shares of the company's stock valued at $543,000 after buying an additional 863 shares in the last quarter. Interval Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 36.3% during the 4th quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 27,076 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,939,000 after buying an additional 7,211 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 76.7% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 907,593 shares of the company's stock valued at $65,011,000 after buying an additional 393,955 shares in the last quarter. 97.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Weatherford International from $90.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Weatherford International from $80.00 to $62.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Weatherford International from $85.00 to $77.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Raymond James cut shares of Weatherford International from a "strong-buy" rating to an "outperform" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $73.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Benchmark lowered their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $140.00 to $125.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Weatherford International has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $96.63.

Insider Transactions at Weatherford International

In related news, Director Neal P. Goldman purchased 12,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 24th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $42.04 per share, with a total value of $504,480.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 25,311 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,064,074.44. This represents a 90.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.09% of the company's stock.

Weatherford International Stock Performance

NASDAQ WFRD remained flat at $48.48 on Friday. 754,420 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,161,573. Weatherford International plc has a fifty-two week low of $36.74 and a fifty-two week high of $135.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company has a market capitalization of $3.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.73. The business has a 50-day moving average of $47.22 and a 200-day moving average of $63.88.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.21 billion. Weatherford International had a net margin of 9.18% and a return on equity of 40.65%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Weatherford International plc will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Weatherford International Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 6th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 6th. Weatherford International's payout ratio is 16.00%.

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.