Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Holdings in Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD - Free Report) by 37.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 170,913 shares of the company's stock after selling 103,659 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.24% of Weatherford International worth $14,514,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WFRD. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in Weatherford International by 364.9% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 358 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Weatherford International during the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. Millburn Ridgefield Corp purchased a new position in shares of Weatherford International during the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Weatherford International by 36.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 523 shares of the company's stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Place Capital Corp boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 561 shares in the last quarter. 97.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Desmond J. Mills sold 6,531 shares of the company's 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 directly owns 11,680 shares of the company's stock, valued at $932,764.80. This represents a 35.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WFRD has been the subject of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Weatherford International in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $87.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Weatherford International from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Weatherford International from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $132.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price 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 target on Weatherford International from $147.00 to $105.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $121.25.

Weatherford International Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of WFRD stock traded up $0.55 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $68.58. The company's stock had a trading volume of 533,214 shares, compared to its average volume of 904,253. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. Weatherford International plc has a one year low of $66.23 and a one year high of $135.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.58. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $79.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $97.14.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $2.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.41. Weatherford International had a net margin of 9.65% and a return on equity of 46.25%. The business had revenue of $1.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.66 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Weatherford International plc will post 6.85 EPS for the current year.

Weatherford International Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 6th. Weatherford International's payout ratio is currently 14.04%.

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.