Piper Sandler Cuts Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) Price Target to $82.00

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) had its price objective trimmed by Piper Sandler from $87.00 to $82.00 in a research report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on WFRD. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $149.00 to $142.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $107.00 to $97.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $147.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Benchmark lowered their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $140.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $109.25.

Weatherford International Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of WFRD opened at $67.63 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $70.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $85.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a current ratio of 2.80. Weatherford International has a 52 week low of $60.45 and a 52 week high of $135.00.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by ($0.30). Weatherford International had a net margin of 9.18% and a return on equity of 40.65%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Weatherford International will post 6.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Weatherford International Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.48%. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio is 14.88%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Desmond J. Mills sold 19,425 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.51, for a total transaction of $1,311,381.75. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,208,361.49. This represents a 52.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP David John Reed sold 4,762 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.66, for a total transaction of $346,006.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,109 shares in the company, valued at $807,179.94. This trade represents a 30.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 92,692 shares of company stock valued at $6,207,725. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Weatherford International

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WFRD. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 551.1% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,440,837 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,356,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,553 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Weatherford International by 36.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,573,003 shares of the company’s stock worth $303,419,000 after acquiring an additional 959,783 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Weatherford International during the 4th quarter worth $65,678,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Weatherford International by 132.1% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 728,266 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,166,000 after acquiring an additional 414,528 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Weatherford International by 30.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,324,101 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,443,000 after acquiring an additional 310,259 shares during the period. 97.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Weatherford International Company Profile

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.