Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) Research Coverage Started at Royal Bank Of Canada

Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) in a research note released on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $105.00 price target on the stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on WFRD. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Weatherford International from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Weatherford International in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $82.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Weatherford International from $111.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Weatherford International has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.33.

Weatherford International Stock Performance

Shares of WFRD opened at $86.14 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $94.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $79.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 2.19 and a quick ratio of 1.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.18 billion, a PE ratio of 14.53 and a beta of 0.78. Weatherford International has a one year low of $36.74 and a one year high of $110.57.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.49. Weatherford International had a return on equity of 28.07% and a net margin of 8.76%.The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.50 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Weatherford International will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.275 per share. This is a positive change from Weatherford International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 6th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Weatherford International’s payout ratio is currently 18.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Weatherford International news, CEO Girish Saligram sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.50, for a total transaction of $10,550,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.09% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $22,369,000 after acquiring an additional 55,183 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 270.9% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 19,860 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,359,000 after purchasing an additional 14,505 shares during the period. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC increased its position in shares of Weatherford International by 110.8% during the 2nd quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 708,180 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,629,000 after purchasing an additional 372,192 shares during the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Weatherford International during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,014,000. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 303,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,792,000 after purchasing an additional 17,330 shares during the period. 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.