William Blair Investment Management LLC Grows Holdings in Weatherford International PLC $WFRD

William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 822,117 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 74,155 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Weatherford International were worth $56,257,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 712.8% during the second quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 1,646,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,812,000 after buying an additional 1,443,512 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Weatherford International by 103.1% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,165,753 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,772,000 after acquiring an additional 591,694 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in Weatherford International by 94.9% in the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,095,847 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,132,000 after acquiring an additional 533,635 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 1,005.3% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,056,407 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,148,000 after purchasing an additional 960,832 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 196.2% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 825,874 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,343,000 after purchasing an additional 547,044 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Weatherford International

In related news, EVP Kristin Ruzicka sold 2,129 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.25, for a total transaction of $164,465.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 15,673 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,210,739.25. This trade represents a 11.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Girish Saligram sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.50, for a total value of $10,550,000.00. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on WFRD shares. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Weatherford International from $93.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Weatherford International from $66.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Weatherford International in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $93.25.

Weatherford International Price Performance

WFRD opened at $105.46 on Monday. Weatherford International PLC has a 52-week low of $36.74 and a 52-week high of $108.14. The company has a 50 day moving average of $92.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $76.84. The company has a market cap of $7.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.78 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 2.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86.

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

Weatherford International Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 6th will be paid a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. This is an increase from Weatherford International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 6th. Weatherford International’s payout ratio is 18.55%.

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.