Brokerages Set Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) PT at $114.25

Shares of Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the ten analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $114.25.

Several research analysts have recently commented on WFRD shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded Weatherford International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 4th. Raymond James Financial dropped their price target on Weatherford International from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Weatherford International from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. UBS Group raised Weatherford International from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $113.00 to $114.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Weatherford International from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th.

Weatherford International Trading Down 2.3%

Shares of WFRD stock opened at $93.70 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.90. Weatherford International has a 12-month low of $60.84 and a 12-month high of $113.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $88.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $95.32.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last issued 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). The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. Weatherford International had a return on equity of 21.50% and a net margin of 7.66%.Weatherford International’s quarterly revenue was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.87 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Weatherford International will post 5.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Weatherford International Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 6th were given a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 6th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio is 21.70%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Benjamin Duster, IV sold 6,000 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the director directly owned 11,187 shares in the company, valued at approximately $963,088.83. This represents a 34.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Jacqueline C. Mutschler sold 4,094 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.50, for a total transaction of $370,507.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 29,093 shares in the company, valued at $2,632,916.50. This trade represents a 12.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 in the last 90 days. 2.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in Weatherford International by 223.0% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 122,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,568,000 after buying an additional 84,684 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 129.3% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 143,703 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,695,000 after acquiring an additional 81,046 shares during the period. United Services Automobile Association acquired a new position in shares of Weatherford International during the first quarter valued at $258,000. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in Weatherford International by 26.8% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 12,764 shares of the company’s stock valued at $642,000 after acquiring an additional 2,695 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Weatherford International by 83.5% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.23% of the company’s stock.

Weatherford International Company 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.