Capital Research Global Investors Buys 98,663 Shares of Weatherford International PLC $WFRD

Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) by 1.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,673,603 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 98,663 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors owned about 0.08% of Weatherford International worth $388,245,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quent Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Weatherford International during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Weatherford International in the 3rd quarter worth $35,000. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Weatherford International during the second quarter worth $27,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Weatherford International by 83.5% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Weatherford International by 69.8% in the second quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 584 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the period. 97.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on WFRD shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on Weatherford International from $82.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $93.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $83.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $111.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Weatherford International in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Weatherford International

In other news, CEO Girish Saligram sold 100,000 shares of Weatherford International stock in a transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Weatherford International Stock Up 1.7%

NASDAQ:WFRD opened at $92.48 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 2.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $94.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.72. Weatherford International PLC has a twelve month low of $36.74 and a twelve month high of $110.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.60 and a beta of 0.78.

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

Weatherford International Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 5th. Investors of record on Friday, February 6th were paid a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. This is a boost from Weatherford International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 6th. 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.