Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday morning.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on WFRD. Barclays decreased their price objective on Weatherford International from $111.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Weatherford International from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Weatherford International from $82.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Weatherford International in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $77.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Weatherford International has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $90.50.

Weatherford International Stock Performance

Shares of WFRD stock opened at $104.25 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $85.00 and its 200 day moving average is $72.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.58 and a beta of 0.79. Weatherford International has a 12 month low of $36.74 and a 12 month high of $106.41. 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 (NASDAQ:WFRD) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.49. The business had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.26 billion. Weatherford International had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 28.07%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.50 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Weatherford International will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Weatherford International Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 6th will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. This is an increase from Weatherford International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 6th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio is 18.55%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Kristin Ruzicka sold 2,129 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.25, for a total value of $164,465.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 15,673 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,210,739.25. The trade was a 11.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Weatherford International

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WFRD. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of Weatherford International by 223.0% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 122,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,568,000 after purchasing an additional 84,684 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Weatherford International by 129.3% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 143,703 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,695,000 after buying an additional 81,046 shares in the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association bought a new position in Weatherford International during the first quarter valued at approximately $258,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in Weatherford International by 120.7% during the second quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 18,344 shares of the company’s stock valued at $923,000 after acquiring an additional 10,034 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS raised its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 7.4% during the second quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 16,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $805,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.23% of the company’s stock.

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.