Leuthold Group LLC Purchases New Stake in Weatherford International PLC $WFRD

Leuthold Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 5,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $426,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quent Capital LLC bought a new stake in Weatherford International during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Weatherford International by 83.5% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Weatherford International by 69.8% during the 2nd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 584 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in Weatherford International during the 3rd quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Weatherford International by 157.3% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 705 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. 97.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on WFRD shares. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Weatherford International from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Weatherford International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Weatherford International from $83.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $111.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Seven equities 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.33.

Weatherford International Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WFRD opened at $108.83 on Monday. 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 12 month low of $42.75 and a 12 month high of $112.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.83 billion, a PE ratio of 17.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.87. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $98.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $89.78.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.47. Weatherford International had a net margin of 9.49% and a return on equity of 28.31%. The business had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.03 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Weatherford International PLC will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Weatherford International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 6th will be given a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 6th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.21%.

Weatherford International Profile

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.