Wellington Management Group LLP Decreases Stock Holdings in Weatherford International PLC $WFRD

Wellington Management Group LLP lowered its holdings in shares of Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 345,676 shares of the company’s stock after selling 23,308 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Weatherford International were worth $28,173,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WFRD. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of Weatherford International by 223.0% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 122,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,568,000 after buying an additional 84,684 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Weatherford International by 129.3% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 143,703 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,695,000 after acquiring an additional 81,046 shares in the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association purchased a new position in Weatherford International in the first quarter worth about $258,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in Weatherford International by 26.8% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 12,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $642,000 after acquiring an additional 2,695 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Weatherford International by 83.5% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 556 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. 97.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Weatherford International

In other Weatherford International news, Director Benjamin Duster, IV sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.09, for a total value of $516,540.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 11,187 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $963,088.83. The trade was a 34.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Jacqueline C. Mutschler sold 4,094 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.50, for a total transaction of $370,507.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 29,093 shares in the company, valued at $2,632,916.50. This represents a 12.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 26,094 shares of company stock worth $2,244,487. Insiders own 2.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WFRD shares. Wall Street Zen lowered Weatherford International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 4th. Citigroup cut their target price on Weatherford International from $137.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 26th. UBS Group upgraded Weatherford International from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $113.00 to $114.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Barclays lowered their price target on Weatherford International from $154.00 to $151.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Weatherford International from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Weatherford International currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $114.25.

Weatherford International Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ WFRD opened at $95.88 on Friday. Weatherford International PLC has a fifty-two week low of $60.23 and a fifty-two week high of $113.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 2.34. The company has a market cap of $6.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.91, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.90. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $87.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $95.48.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.35). The business had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.07 billion. Weatherford International had a net margin of 7.66% and a return on equity of 21.50%. Weatherford International’s revenue was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.87 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Weatherford International PLC will post 5.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Weatherford International Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 6th were paid a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 6th. Weatherford International’s payout ratio is currently 21.70%.

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.