Wall Street Zen Downgrades Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) to Buy

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Monday.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on WFRD. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Weatherford International in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Zacks Research lowered Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Weatherford International from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. UBS Group raised their target price on Weatherford International from $82.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Weatherford International from $83.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.50.

Weatherford International Stock Performance

WFRD opened at $86.40 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. Weatherford International has a 12-month low of $36.74 and a 12-month high of $110.57. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $94.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $79.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.20 billion, a PE ratio of 14.57 and a beta of 0.78.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.49. The business had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.26 billion. Weatherford International had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 28.07%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.50 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Weatherford International will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Girish Saligram sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.50, for a total transaction of $10,550,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Weatherford International

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WFRD. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Weatherford International by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,673,603 shares of the company’s stock worth $388,245,000 after purchasing an additional 98,663 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings 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 valued at $150,903,000 after buying an additional 66,553 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its position in Weatherford International by 712.8% during 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 in the last quarter. 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 worth $107,601,000 after acquiring an additional 476,575 shares during the period. 97.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.