Zacks Research Downgrades Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) to Hold

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Weatherford International from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Weatherford International from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Weatherford International from $114.00 to $111.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Weatherford International from $94.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Weatherford International from $93.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $102.00.

Weatherford International Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WFRD opened at $99.79 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a current ratio of 2.19. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $97.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.09. Weatherford International has a fifty-two week low of $40.12 and a fifty-two week high of $110.57. The firm has a market cap of $7.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.83.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.49. Weatherford International had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 28.07%. The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.50 earnings per share. Weatherford International's revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Weatherford International will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Weatherford International

In other news, CEO Girish Saligram sold 100,000 shares of the 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 2.09% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WFRD. Holocene Advisors LP increased its stake in Weatherford International by 712.8% in the 2nd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 1,646,034 shares of the company's stock worth $82,812,000 after buying an additional 1,443,512 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Weatherford International by 1,040.4% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,244,464 shares of the company's stock worth $97,392,000 after buying an additional 1,135,338 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Weatherford International in the 4th quarter worth about $61,399,000. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Weatherford International by 1,096.6% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 855,752 shares of the company's stock worth $66,971,000 after buying an additional 784,237 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Weatherford International by 154.3% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,159,192 shares of the company's stock worth $79,324,000 after buying an additional 703,401 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.23% of the company's stock.

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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