Capital Research Global Investors Grows Stock Position in Weatherford International PLC $WFRD

Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) by 1.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,673,603 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 98,663 shares during the quarter. Capital Research Global Investors owned about 7.91% of Weatherford International worth $388,245,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 20.3% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 326,892 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,369,000 after acquiring an additional 55,183 shares in the last quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC increased its holdings in Weatherford International by 110.8% during the 2nd quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 708,180 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,629,000 after purchasing an additional 372,192 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in Weatherford International by 270.9% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 19,860 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,359,000 after purchasing an additional 14,505 shares during the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Weatherford International in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,014,000. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 303,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,792,000 after buying an additional 17,330 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WFRD has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Weatherford International from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. Zacks Research lowered shares of Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Weatherford International in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Citigroup lifted their price target on Weatherford International from $93.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $83.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.50.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Girish Saligram sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Weatherford International Stock Performance

Weatherford International stock opened at $92.48 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $94.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $78.72. The company has a market cap of $6.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.60 and a beta of 0.78. Weatherford International PLC has a fifty-two week low of $36.74 and a fifty-two week high of $110.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 2.19 and a quick ratio of 1.65.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.91 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $1.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.50 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Weatherford International PLC will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Weatherford International Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 5th. Investors of record on Friday, February 6th were issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 6th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. This is an increase from Weatherford International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Weatherford International’s payout ratio is currently 18.55%.

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.