Ethic Inc. Grows Stock Position in Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD)

Ethic Inc. increased its position in shares of Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD) by 112.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,618 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,615 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Weatherford International were worth $761,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

WFRD has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Weatherford International from $90.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Raymond James downgraded shares of Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $73.00 to $69.00 in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays dropped their target price 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 target price 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 target price 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Weatherford International has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $96.63.

Weatherford International Stock Up 0.9%

Weatherford International stock opened at $49.99 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $47.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.31. The company has a market capitalization of $3.63 billion, a PE ratio of 7.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a current ratio of 2.01. Weatherford International plc has a fifty-two week low of $36.74 and a fifty-two week high of $135.00.

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

Weatherford International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 6th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 6th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Weatherford International news, Director Neal P. Goldman purchased 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 24th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $42.04 per share, for a total transaction of $504,480.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 25,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,064,074.44. The trade was a 90.15% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.09% of the company’s stock.

Weatherford International 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.