Foster Group Inc. Acquires New Position in Weatherford International PLC $WFRD

Foster Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 9,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $739,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of WFRD. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,156,773 shares of the company’s stock worth $403,571,000 after purchasing an additional 281,984 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in 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 buying an additional 66,553 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in Weatherford International by 12.4% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,760,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $166,505,000 after buying an additional 194,654 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP increased its position in Weatherford International by 712.8% in the second 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. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Weatherford International by 18.3% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,539,727 shares of the company’s stock valued at $120,505,000 after buying an additional 238,154 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on WFRD shares. UBS Group raised shares of Weatherford International from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $113.00 to $114.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $137.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Wall Street Zen cut Weatherford International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 4th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Weatherford International from $154.00 to $151.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $113.56.

Weatherford International Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of WFRD stock opened at $88.96 on Friday. Weatherford International PLC has a 1 year low of $52.70 and a 1 year high of $113.15. The stock has a market cap of $6.38 billion, a PE ratio of 17.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.87. The business’s fifty day moving average is $89.26 and its 200-day moving average is $95.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 2.34.

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

Weatherford International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 6th will be issued a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 6th. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.70%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Benjamin Duster sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.09, for a total transaction of $516,540.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 11,187 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $963,088.83. This represents a 34.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Neal P. Goldman sold 16,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total transaction of $1,357,440.00. Following the sale, the director owned 12,187 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,033,945.08. The trade was a 56.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 2.07% of the company’s stock.

Weatherford International 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.