California State Teachers Retirement System Has $7.90 Million Holdings in Weatherford International PLC $WFRD

California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) by 22.4% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 83,567 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,294 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Weatherford International were worth $7,904,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 127.1% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 318 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Weatherford International during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Leonteq Securities AG purchased a new position in Weatherford International in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 83.5% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 556 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in Weatherford International in the first quarter valued at about $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Benjamin Duster sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.09, for a total value of $516,540.00. Following the sale, the director owned 11,187 shares in the company, valued at $963,088.83. This represents a 34.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Neal P. Goldman sold 16,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total value of $1,357,440.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 12,187 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,033,945.08. This trade represents a 56.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 2.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group raised shares of Weatherford International from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $113.00 to $114.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Weatherford International from $137.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Raymond James Financial reduced their target price on Weatherford International from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Weatherford International from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three 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 target price of $113.56.

Weatherford International Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WFRD opened at $89.42 on Wednesday. Weatherford International PLC has a 1 year low of $52.70 and a 1 year high of $113.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 2.34 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The company’s 50-day moving average is $89.93 and its 200 day moving average is $95.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.87.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.35). Weatherford International had a return on equity of 21.50% and a net margin of 7.66%.The business had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.87 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Weatherford International PLC will post 5.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Weatherford International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 6th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.70%.

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.