Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD – Free Report) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 784,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $61,399,000.
A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in WFRD. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 712.8% in the 2nd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 1,646,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,812,000 after purchasing an additional 1,443,512 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 154.3% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,159,192 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,324,000 after purchasing an additional 703,401 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 1,084.6% in the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 686,010 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,513,000 after purchasing an additional 628,100 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Weatherford International by 103.1% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,165,753 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,772,000 after buying an additional 591,694 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Weatherford International by 196.2% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 825,874 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,343,000 after buying an additional 547,044 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.23% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
WFRD has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Weatherford International from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Citigroup raised their price objective on Weatherford International from $134.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Wall Street Zen raised Weatherford International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Weatherford International in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $105.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Weatherford International from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Weatherford International has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $110.67.
Weatherford International Price Performance
WFRD stock opened at $97.17 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $103.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $93.29. The stock has a market cap of $6.99 billion, a PE ratio of 15.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. Weatherford International PLC has a 1 year low of $46.20 and a 1 year high of $113.15.
Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. Weatherford International had a return on equity of 28.31% and a net margin of 9.49%.The company’s revenue was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.03 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Weatherford International PLC will post 6.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Weatherford International Dividend Announcement
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 6th were issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 6th. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio is 17.21%.
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.
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