Girish Saligram Sells 100,000 Shares of Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) Stock

Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) CEO Girish Saligram sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.50, for a total value of $10,550,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Weatherford International Price Performance

WFRD stock traded down $2.41 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $101.84. The company had a trading volume of 1,006,473 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,286,048. The business has a 50 day moving average of $85.00 and a 200 day moving average of $72.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.58 and a beta of 0.79. 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 PLC has a fifty-two week low of $36.74 and a fifty-two week high of $106.41.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.49. The company had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.26 billion. Weatherford International had a net margin of 8.76% and a return on equity of 28.07%. Weatherford International’s revenue was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.50 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Weatherford International PLC will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Weatherford International Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 6th will be given a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. This is a positive change from Weatherford International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 6th. Weatherford International’s payout ratio is currently 18.55%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Weatherford International

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WFRD. Holocene Advisors LP raised its holdings in Weatherford International by 712.8% during the 2nd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 1,646,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,812,000 after buying an additional 1,443,512 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Weatherford International by 1,040.4% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,244,464 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,392,000 after acquiring an additional 1,135,338 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 1,005.3% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,056,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,148,000 after acquiring an additional 960,832 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Weatherford International in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $41,542,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Weatherford International by 154.3% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,159,192 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,324,000 after purchasing an additional 703,401 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on WFRD shares. Wall Street Zen raised Weatherford International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Weatherford International from $66.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Weatherford International from $82.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Barclays lowered 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 note on Friday, January 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Weatherford International presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $90.50.

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.