Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) Raised to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) was upgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

WFRD has been the subject of several other reports. Melius began coverage on Weatherford International in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $108.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler upgraded Weatherford International from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $62.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, July 28th. Melius Research began coverage on Weatherford International in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $108.00 target price for the company. Citigroup dropped their target price on Weatherford International from $90.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Weatherford International from $77.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $99.70.

Weatherford International Price Performance

Shares of Weatherford International stock opened at $61.56 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.21, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.42 billion, a PE ratio of 9.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.77. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $55.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.50. Weatherford International has a 12 month low of $36.74 and a 12 month high of $108.43.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.90. The firm had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.19 billion. Weatherford International had a return on equity of 34.87% and a net margin of 9.35%.The company’s revenue was down 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.66 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Weatherford International will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,050,495 shares of the company’s stock valued at $431,104,000 after purchasing an additional 347,584 shares during the period. 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. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,485,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,562,000 after purchasing an additional 29,840 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 13.1% in the 1st quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,474,131 shares of the company’s stock valued at $78,940,000 after purchasing an additional 171,124 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 67.1% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,201,544 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,343,000 after purchasing an additional 482,352 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.23% of the company’s stock.

About Weatherford International

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.