Foster Group Inc. Acquires Shares of 9,070 Weatherford International PLC $WFRD

Foster Group Inc. bought a new position in Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 9,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $739,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Weatherford International by 127.1% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 318 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Weatherford International in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Weatherford International by 83.5% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 556 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the period. Leonteq Securities AG acquired a new stake in shares of Weatherford International in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Weatherford International during the third quarter valued at $52,000. 97.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Benjamin Duster sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.09, for a total transaction of $516,540.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 11,187 shares in the company, valued at approximately $963,088.83. This represents a 34.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Neal P. Goldman sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,033,945.08. This represents a 56.76% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 2.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup dropped their price target on Weatherford International from $137.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Weatherford International from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Raymond James Financial dropped their target price on Weatherford International from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 10th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Weatherford International from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $113.00 to $114.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Weatherford International presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $113.56.

Weatherford International Trading Up 1.6%

NASDAQ:WFRD opened at $88.96 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.87. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $89.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $95.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 2.34. Weatherford International PLC has a 52 week low of $52.70 and a 52 week high of $113.15.

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

Weatherford International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 6th will be paid a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 6th. Weatherford International’s payout ratio is presently 21.70%.

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.