Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts give Weatherford a consensus recommendation of Moderate Buy (7 buys, 4 holds) with an average 12‑month price target of $103.22, and Citigroup recently raised its target to $115.
• Weatherford beat the quarter with EPS of $1.49 versus $1.02 expected and revenue of $1.15B (vs. $1.14B), while analysts forecast roughly $5.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.
• CEO Girish Saligram sold 100,000 shares at $105.50 (insiders own 1.6%), and the company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.275 (annual $1.10, ~1.0% yield).

Shares of Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the eleven brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $103.2222.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WFRD. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $93.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $105.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Weatherford International from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research cut shares of Weatherford International from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $114.00 to $111.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Girish Saligram sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.50, for a total value of $10,550,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Weatherford International

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in Weatherford International by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,673,603 shares of the company's stock valued at $388,245,000 after purchasing an additional 98,663 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Weatherford International by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,156,773 shares of the company's stock valued at $403,571,000 after purchasing an additional 281,984 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Weatherford International by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,928,226 shares of the company's stock valued at $150,903,000 after purchasing an additional 66,553 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP raised its position in Weatherford International by 712.8% in the 2nd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 1,646,034 shares of the company's stock valued at $82,812,000 after purchasing an additional 1,443,512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in Weatherford International by 43.5% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,572,422 shares of the company's stock valued at $107,601,000 after purchasing an additional 476,575 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.23% of the company's stock.

Weatherford International Price Performance

Weatherford International stock opened at $107.14 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $7.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $97.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $86.75. Weatherford International has a 12-month low of $40.80 and a 12-month high of $112.31. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.47. Weatherford International had a net margin of 9.49% and a return on equity of 28.31%. The business had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Weatherford International will post 5.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Weatherford International Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 6th will be issued a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 6th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Weatherford International's dividend payout ratio is presently 17.21%.

Weatherford International Company 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.