Vanguard Group Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Weatherford International PLC $WFRD

Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its stake in Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,736,974 shares of the company’s stock after selling 101,934 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.11% of Weatherford International worth $529,441,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Holocene Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Weatherford International by 712.8% in the 2nd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 1,646,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,812,000 after buying an additional 1,443,512 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Weatherford International during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,542,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in Weatherford International by 1,084.6% during the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 686,010 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,513,000 after buying an additional 628,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Weatherford International by 196.2% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 825,874 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,343,000 after buying an additional 547,044 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Weatherford International

In related news, EVP Kristin Ruzicka sold 2,129 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.25, for a total transaction of $164,465.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 15,673 shares in the company, valued at $1,210,739.25. This represents a 11.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Girish Saligram sold 100,000 shares of Weatherford International 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Weatherford International in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. 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 report on Thursday, December 18th. UBS Group raised their target price on Weatherford International from $82.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Zacks Research cut Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $66.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $93.25.

Weatherford International Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of NASDAQ WFRD opened at $106.86 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.02 and a beta of 0.79. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $90.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.80. 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 PLC has a 52-week low of $36.74 and a 52-week high of $107.13.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.26 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.50 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Weatherford International PLC will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Weatherford International Increases Dividend

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

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.