Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $99.70.

Several equities analysts recently commented on WFRD shares. Melius Research started coverage on Weatherford International in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $108.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler upgraded Weatherford International from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $62.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Barclays dropped their target price on Weatherford International from $77.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Melius started coverage on Weatherford International in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $108.00 target price for the company. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price (up from $69.00) on shares of Weatherford International in a research note on Thursday, July 24th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Weatherford International

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WFRD. Holocene Advisors LP increased its stake in Weatherford International by 712.8% during the second quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 1,646,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,812,000 after acquiring an additional 1,443,512 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 1,005.3% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,056,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,148,000 after buying an additional 960,832 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 429.2% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,103,067 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,069,000 after buying an additional 894,636 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Weatherford International in the second quarter valued at about $41,542,000. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 1,084.6% in the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 686,010 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,513,000 after buying an additional 628,100 shares in the last quarter. 97.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Weatherford International Stock Performance

NASDAQ WFRD opened at $67.33 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.78. The business has a fifty day moving average of $59.41 and a 200-day moving average of $52.38. Weatherford International has a fifty-two week low of $36.74 and a fifty-two week high of $98.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.90. The firm had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.19 billion. Weatherford International had a return on equity of 34.87% and a net margin of 9.35%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.66 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Weatherford International will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Weatherford International Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 6th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 6th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.48%.

Weatherford International Company Profile

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.