Quantbot Technologies LP Makes New $1.35 Million Investment in Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD)

Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 15,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,353,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Weatherford International by 364.9% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 358 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in Weatherford International in the third quarter worth approximately $34,000. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in Weatherford International by 31.0% in the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 359 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Weatherford International by 36.9% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 523 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park Place Capital Corp increased its holdings in Weatherford International by 1,516.2% in the third quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 598 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 561 shares in the last quarter. 97.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WFRD has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Weatherford International from $145.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Weatherford International from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Weatherford International in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Weatherford International from $149.00 to $142.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Weatherford International from $154.00 to $147.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Weatherford International currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $147.29.

Weatherford International Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WFRD opened at $82.30 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.56, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. Weatherford International plc has a 12-month low of $77.00 and a 12-month high of $135.00. The business’s 50 day moving average is $86.17 and its 200 day moving average is $103.70.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $1.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.42 billion. Weatherford International had a return on equity of 46.25% and a net margin of 9.65%. Weatherford International’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.66 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Weatherford International plc will post 6.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Weatherford International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 6th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP David John Reed sold 6,805 shares of Weatherford International stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.96, for a total transaction of $639,397.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Desmond J. Mills sold 6,531 shares of Weatherford International stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.86, for a total value of $521,565.66. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 11,680 shares in the company, valued at $932,764.80. This trade represents a 35.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.