Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires Shares of 20,800 Weatherford International PLC $WFRD

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 20,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,967,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Weatherford International by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,673,603 shares of the company’s stock valued at $388,245,000 after acquiring an additional 98,663 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Weatherford International by 5.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 281,984 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Weatherford International by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,928,226 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,903,000 after purchasing an additional 66,553 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP raised 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 purchasing an additional 1,443,512 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Weatherford International by 43.5% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,572,422 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,601,000 after purchasing an additional 476,575 shares during the last quarter. 97.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Weatherford International Stock Up 0.7%

Weatherford International stock opened at $81.50 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.86 billion, a PE ratio of 12.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 1.73. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $101.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $95.43. Weatherford International PLC has a 1-year low of $49.47 and a 1-year high of $113.15.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. Weatherford International had a net margin of 9.49% and a return on equity of 28.31%. Weatherford International’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.03 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Weatherford International PLC will post 6.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Weatherford International Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 6th were paid a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 6th. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WFRD has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $105.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Weatherford International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $83.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Weiss Ratings raised Weatherford International from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on Weatherford International from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $108.22.

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.