Weatherford International PLC $WFRD Shares Purchased by M&G PLC

M&G PLC boosted its stake in Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) by 100.3% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 177,591 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 88,915 shares during the period. M&G PLC’s holdings in Weatherford International were worth $14,030,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its position in Weatherford International by 72.0% during the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 313 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Weatherford International in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 32.8% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 31.1% in the 2nd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,770 shares of the company’s stock valued at $144,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 65.2% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,786 shares of the company’s stock valued at $141,000 after purchasing an additional 705 shares during the period. 97.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WFRD has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Weatherford International from $106.00 to $94.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on Weatherford International from $124.00 to $123.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Weatherford International from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Weatherford International from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 27th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $116.00 to $111.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $115.57.

Weatherford International Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WFRD opened at $84.31 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $84.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $92.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market cap of $6.11 billion, a PE ratio of 15.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.83. Weatherford International PLC has a fifty-two week low of $68.49 and a fifty-two week high of $113.15.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 20th. The company reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.13 billion. Weatherford International had a net margin of 8.64% and a return on equity of 22.39%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.12 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Weatherford International PLC will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Weatherford International Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, November 6th will be paid a $0.2750 dividend. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 6th. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.61%.

About Weatherford International

Weatherford International plc is an energy services company that provides equipment, technology and services to oil and natural gas operators. Its offerings support multiple stages of the well lifecycle, including drilling and construction, formation evaluation, completion, production and well intervention. The company’s products and services include artificial-lift systems, drilling and well-construction technologies, completion tools, production optimization, and digital solutions for monitoring and managing operations.