Empowered Funds LLC Sells 22,729 Shares of Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD)

Empowered Funds LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD) by 24.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 70,553 shares of the company’s stock after selling 22,729 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Weatherford International were worth $5,991,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,599,657 shares of the company’s stock worth $877,152,000 after acquiring an additional 53,017 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 2.9% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,409,020 shares of the company’s stock valued at $739,730,000 after buying an additional 182,120 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 19.3% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,722,281 shares of the company’s stock valued at $315,240,000 after buying an additional 439,700 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 6.2% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 657,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,566,000 after buying an additional 38,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 33.0% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 631,862 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,372,000 after buying an additional 156,756 shares in the last quarter. 97.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Weatherford International Price Performance

Shares of Weatherford International stock opened at $81.86 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $87.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $106.05. Weatherford International plc has a twelve month low of $77.00 and a twelve month high of $135.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.69 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 (NASDAQ:WFRD) last issued its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $1.41 billion during 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.66 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Weatherford International plc will post 6.91 EPS for the current year.

Weatherford International Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be given 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 dividend yield of 1.22%. Weatherford International’s payout ratio is 14.04%.

Insider Transactions at Weatherford International

In other Weatherford International news, EVP David John Reed sold 6,805 shares of the company’s 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Desmond J. Mills sold 6,531 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.86, for a total value of $521,565.66. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 11,680 shares in the company, valued at approximately $932,764.80. This represents a 35.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WFRD has been the subject of several analyst reports. Raymond James decreased their target price on shares of Weatherford International from $161.00 to $158.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Citigroup cut their price target on Weatherford International from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Weatherford International from $149.00 to $142.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays cut their price target on Weatherford International from $154.00 to $147.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Weatherford International in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Weatherford International presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $147.29.

Weatherford International 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.