Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) Director Benjamin Duster Sells 6,000 Shares of Stock

Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) Director Benjamin Duster sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.09, for a total value 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Weatherford International Stock Performance

Shares of Weatherford International stock traded down $0.37 on Tuesday, reaching $85.55. The stock had a trading volume of 224,251 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,347,560. Weatherford International PLC has a fifty-two week low of $52.70 and a fifty-two week high of $113.15. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $92.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $95.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 2.34. The stock has a market cap of $6.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.86.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.35). The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. Weatherford International had a return on equity of 21.50% and a net margin of 7.66%.The firm’s revenue was down 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.87 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Weatherford International PLC will post 5.42 EPS for the current year.

Weatherford International Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 6th will be paid a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 6th. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.70%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WFRD has been the topic of several research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Weatherford International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 4th. Zacks Research lowered Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Weatherford International from $105.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Weatherford International from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Weatherford International from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Weatherford International currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $113.44.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Weatherford International

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 1,040.4% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,244,464 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,392,000 after purchasing an additional 1,135,338 shares in the last quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 77.6% in the 4th quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 537,851 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,092,000 after purchasing an additional 234,989 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Weatherford International by 34.0% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 71,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,615,000 after purchasing an additional 18,224 shares during the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new position in Weatherford International during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,692,000. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC acquired a new position in Weatherford International in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,389,000. 97.23% of the stock is 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.