Empirical Finance LLC Has $793,000 Position in Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD)

Empirical Finance LLC raised its holdings in Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD) by 130.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,076 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,264 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Weatherford International were worth $793,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WFRD. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 364.9% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in Weatherford International during the third quarter valued at about $34,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Weatherford International in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Millburn Ridgefield Corp bought a new stake in shares of Weatherford International during the 3rd quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 36.9% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 523 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. 97.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on WFRD shares. Raymond James decreased their target price on Weatherford International from $107.00 to $97.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $87.00 to $82.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $149.00 to $142.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America lowered their price target on Weatherford International from $145.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Weatherford International from $147.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $109.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Weatherford International

In other Weatherford International news, EVP David John Reed sold 4,762 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $807,179.94. This represents a 30.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Scott C. Weatherholt sold 44,505 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.17, for a total transaction of $2,944,895.85. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,019 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,272,507.23. The trade was a 26.25 % decrease in their position. 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 corporate insiders.

Weatherford International Stock Up 1.6 %

NASDAQ WFRD opened at $67.90 on Tuesday. Weatherford International plc has a twelve month low of $60.45 and a twelve month high of $135.00. The stock has a market cap of $4.93 billion, a PE ratio of 10.10, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.60. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $85.52. 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 (NASDAQ:WFRD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by ($0.30). Weatherford International had a return on equity of 40.65% and a net margin of 9.18%. On average, research analysts forecast that Weatherford International plc will post 6.14 EPS for the current year.

Weatherford International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio is 14.88%.

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.