Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD) Director Neal P. Goldman Acquires 12,000 Shares

Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD - Get Free Report) Director Neal P. Goldman purchased 12,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $42.04 per share, with a total value of $504,480.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 25,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,064,074.44. This represents a 90.15 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Weatherford International Stock Performance

Shares of Weatherford International stock traded up $1.60 during trading on Friday, reaching $44.21. The company's stock had a trading volume of 245,226 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,130,178. The business's fifty day moving average price is $49.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $66.74. Weatherford International plc has a one year low of $36.74 and a one year high of $135.00. The firm has a market cap of $3.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a current ratio of 2.01.

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 company had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.21 billion. Weatherford International had a return on equity of 40.65% and a net margin of 9.18%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Weatherford International plc will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Weatherford International Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 6th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 6th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.26%. Weatherford International's dividend payout ratio is 16.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WFRD. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $80.00 to $62.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Raymond James lowered shares of Weatherford International from a "strong-buy" rating to an "outperform" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $73.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $85.00 to $77.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Benchmark reduced their price target on Weatherford International from $140.00 to $125.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $99.75.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in Weatherford International by 1,002.0% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,091 shares of the company's stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 992 shares during the period. CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 326.1% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,521 shares of the company's stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 70.2% in the first quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 336,987 shares of the company's stock valued at $18,046,000 after purchasing an additional 138,983 shares in the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC bought a new position in Weatherford International in the first quarter worth $1,845,000. Finally, M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in Weatherford International by 36.7% during the first quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 6,352 shares of the company's stock worth $340,000 after buying an additional 1,706 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.23% of the company's stock.

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.