Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) Cut to Buy at Wall Street Zen
by Sarita Garza · The Markets DailyWall Street Zen downgraded shares of Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD – Free Report) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Wednesday morning.
WFRD has been the topic of several other research reports. Zacks Research upgraded Weatherford International from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Barclays dropped their price target on Weatherford International from $111.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Weatherford International in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $83.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Weatherford International presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $99.56.
View Our Latest Analysis on WFRD
Weatherford International Price Performance
WFRD stock opened at $95.29 on Wednesday. Weatherford International has a 52 week low of $36.74 and a 52 week high of $110.57. The company has a quick ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 2.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $96.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $82.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.07 and a beta of 0.83.
Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.26 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.50 EPS. Weatherford International’s quarterly revenue was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Weatherford International will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Weatherford International Increases Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 5th. Investors of record on Friday, February 6th were given a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 6th. This is a positive change from Weatherford International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.55%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Weatherford International news, CEO Girish Saligram sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.50, for a total transaction of $10,550,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.09% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WFRD. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,219 shares of the company’s stock valued at $252,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Weatherford International by 24.2% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 704 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Weatherford International by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $385,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Weatherford International by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $319,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 7,711 shares of the company’s stock valued at $603,000 after buying an additional 170 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.