South Dakota Investment Council Sells 10,700 Shares of Weatherford International PLC $WFRD

South Dakota Investment Council lowered its holdings in shares of Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) by 23.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,851 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,700 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Weatherford International were worth $3,296,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,219 shares of the company’s stock valued at $252,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Weatherford International by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 704 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Weatherford International by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $383,000 after buying an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Weatherford International by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,851 shares of the company’s stock valued at $364,000 after buying an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its position in Weatherford International by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 7,711 shares of the company’s stock valued at $603,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.23% of the company’s stock.

Weatherford International Stock Performance

Shares of WFRD stock opened at $84.71 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $6.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.71, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.86. The company’s 50 day moving average is $91.14 and its 200 day moving average is $95.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Weatherford International PLC has a 52-week low of $52.70 and a 52-week high of $113.15.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last posted 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 company had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.07 billion. Weatherford International had a return on equity of 21.50% and a net margin of 7.66%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.87 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Weatherford International PLC will post 5.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Weatherford International Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Weatherford International news, Director Neal P. Goldman sold 16,000 shares of Weatherford International stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total value of $1,357,440.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 12,187 shares in the company, valued at $1,033,945.08. The trade was a 56.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $516,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 11,187 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $963,088.83. This represents a 34.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 2.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WFRD has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group upgraded shares of Weatherford International from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $113.00 to $114.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Raymond James Financial dropped their price objective on Weatherford International from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Weatherford International from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Weatherford International from $154.00 to $151.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 24th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Weatherford International currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $113.56.

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.