Wall Street Zen Downgrades Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) to Buy

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on WFRD. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $111.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Weatherford International in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Weatherford International from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Weatherford International from $93.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Weatherford International from $94.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $99.56.

Weatherford International Stock Up 1.2%

NASDAQ:WFRD opened at $95.29 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.83 billion, a PE ratio of 16.07 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $96.38 and a 200-day moving average of $81.82. The company has a current ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. Weatherford International has a 52 week low of $36.74 and a 52 week high of $110.57.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.91 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $1.26 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.50 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Weatherford International will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Weatherford International news, CEO Girish Saligram sold 100,000 shares of the business’s 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.09% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 127.1% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 318 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Weatherford International in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Weatherford International during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Weatherford International during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Weatherford International by 83.5% during the 2nd 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 period. 97.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.