Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) Rating Lowered to Strong Sell at Zacks Research

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) was downgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

WFRD has been the topic of a number of other reports. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Weatherford International from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $137.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 26th. UBS Group raised shares of Weatherford International from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $113.00 to $114.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Weatherford International from $154.00 to $151.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Weatherford International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 4th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Weatherford International currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $113.56.

Weatherford International Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WFRD opened at $92.10 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.34, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $88.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $96.04. The company has a market cap of $6.60 billion, a PE ratio of 18.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.87. Weatherford International has a 12-month low of $54.69 and a 12-month high of $113.15.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.35). The business had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. Weatherford International had a net margin of 7.66% and a return on equity of 21.50%. The firm’s revenue was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.87 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Weatherford International will post 5.35 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Neal P. Goldman sold 16,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total transaction of $1,357,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 12,187 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,033,945.08. This trade represents a 56.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Jacqueline C. Mutschler sold 4,094 shares of Weatherford International stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.50, for a total transaction of $370,507.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 29,093 shares in the company, valued at $2,632,916.50. This represents a 12.34% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 26,094 shares of company stock valued at $2,244,487 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Weatherford International

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Weatherford International by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,156,773 shares of the company’s stock worth $403,571,000 after buying an additional 281,984 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,928,226 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,903,000 after acquiring an additional 66,553 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 12.4% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,760,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $166,505,000 after acquiring an additional 194,654 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,443,512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Weatherford International by 18.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,539,727 shares of the company’s stock worth $120,505,000 after purchasing an additional 238,154 shares during the period. 97.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Weatherford International

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.