Weatherford International PLC $WFRD Shares Sold by Commonwealth Equity Services LLC

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) by 35.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 38,103 shares of the company’s stock after selling 21,069 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC owned approximately 0.05% of Weatherford International worth $2,982,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Weatherford International by 270.9% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 19,860 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,359,000 after acquiring an additional 14,505 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Weatherford International by 9.9% during the third quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 822,117 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,257,000 after acquiring an additional 74,155 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Weatherford International by 80.0% during the third quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 785,828 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,774,000 after acquiring an additional 349,214 shares during the period. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. grew its holdings in Weatherford International by 77.6% during the fourth quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 537,851 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,092,000 after acquiring an additional 234,989 shares during the period. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp acquired a new stake in Weatherford International during the third quarter worth about $3,367,000. 97.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WFRD has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised Weatherford International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on Weatherford International in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $105.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group raised their price objective on Weatherford International from $105.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Zacks Research lowered Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Weatherford International from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Weatherford International presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $110.67.

Weatherford International Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of WFRD opened at $101.26 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. Weatherford International PLC has a 12 month low of $46.20 and a 12 month high of $113.15. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $103.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $93.72. The firm has a market cap of $7.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.85, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.82.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. Weatherford International had a return on equity of 28.31% and a net margin of 9.49%.Weatherford International’s quarterly revenue was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Weatherford International PLC will post 6.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Weatherford International Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 6th were given a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 6th. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.21%.

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.