Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC Reduces Position in Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD)

Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD) by 82.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,462 shares of the company’s stock after selling 25,084 shares during the quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC’s holdings in Weatherford International were worth $391,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,702,911 shares of the company’s stock worth $551,760,000 after buying an additional 270,775 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 295.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,945,755 shares of the company’s stock worth $425,894,000 after buying an additional 4,443,823 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,402,833 shares of the company’s stock worth $315,375,000 after buying an additional 298,811 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,638,934 shares of the company’s stock worth $260,657,000 after buying an additional 65,931 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners grew its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,777,128 shares of the company’s stock worth $198,877,000 after buying an additional 144,396 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WFRD has been the subject of a number of research reports. Raymond James lowered shares of Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $73.00 to $69.00 in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $85.00 to $77.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. Benchmark dropped their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $140.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $80.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Weatherford International currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $99.75.

Insider Transactions at Weatherford International

In other Weatherford International news, Director Neal P. Goldman purchased 12,000 shares of Weatherford International stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $42.04 per share, with a total value of $504,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 25,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,064,074.44. This trade represents a 90.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.09% of the company’s stock.

Weatherford International Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of WFRD stock opened at $46.07 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 1.49. The firm has a market cap of $3.34 billion, a PE ratio of 6.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a 50-day moving average of $47.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $64.74. Weatherford International plc has a 1-year low of $36.74 and a 1-year high of $135.00.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.21 billion. Weatherford International had a net margin of 9.18% and a return on equity of 40.65%. On average, analysts predict that Weatherford International plc will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Weatherford International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 6th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 6th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.00%.

Weatherford International Company Profile

Weatherford International plc, an energy services company, provides equipment and services for the drilling, evaluation, completion, production, and intervention of oil, geothermal, and natural gas wells worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Drilling and Evaluation; Well Construction and Completions; and Production and Intervention.