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

Key Points

• Weatherford International has a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy” from 11 brokerages, with an average 12-month price target of $114.00.
• The company recently beat quarterly earnings estimates, reporting EPS of $1.49 versus the expected $1.02, while revenue came in slightly above forecasts at $1.15 billion.
• Weatherford also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.275, equal to an annualized yield of about 1.4%, with a relatively low payout ratio of 17.21%.

Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the eleven brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $114.00.

WFRD has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Weatherford International from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Zacks Research raised Weatherford International from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Weatherford International from $105.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Raymond James Financial lowered their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Weatherford International from $111.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 8th.

Institutional Trading of Weatherford International

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WFRD. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Weatherford International during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Weatherford International by 83.5% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 556 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Leonteq Securities AG bought a new stake in shares of Weatherford International during the 4th quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Weatherford International during the third quarter valued at about $52,000. 97.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Weatherford International Stock Performance

WFRD opened at $81.10 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The company's fifty day moving average price is $97.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $95.68. Weatherford International has a 1-year low of $52.33 and a 1-year high of $113.15. The company has a market cap of $5.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.69, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.86.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.14 billion. Weatherford International had a net margin of 9.49% and a return on equity of 28.31%. The business's revenue was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Weatherford International will post 6.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Weatherford International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 6th were issued a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 6th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Weatherford International's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.

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