Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) Given New $27.00 Price Target at Royal Bank of Canada

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) had its price objective increased by Royal Bank of Canada from $25.00 to $27.00 in a research note published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on LBRT. Barclays increased their target price on Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Liberty Energy from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Liberty Energy from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America raised their price objective on Liberty Energy from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Liberty Energy from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $24.30.

Liberty Energy Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:LBRT opened at $22.12 on Friday. Liberty Energy has a 1 year low of $11.62 and a 1 year high of $23.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $21.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.71.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.06). Liberty Energy had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 26.46%. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.08 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Liberty Energy will post 2.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 6th will be paid a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 5th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Liberty Energy news, insider R Sean Elliott sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total value of $410,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 218,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,479,865. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider R Sean Elliott sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total transaction of $410,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 218,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,479,865. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director William F. Kimble sold 12,459 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.55, for a total value of $268,491.45. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 69,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,507,702.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 98,459 shares of company stock valued at $2,077,491 in the last three months. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Liberty Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LBRT. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Liberty Energy by 93.9% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,587,073 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,210,000 after acquiring an additional 2,221,588 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Liberty Energy by 455.5% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,536,812 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,462,000 after acquiring an additional 1,260,142 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Liberty Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $21,278,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Liberty Energy by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,546,529 shares of the company’s stock valued at $380,522,000 after acquiring an additional 893,563 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Liberty Energy by 4,473.9% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 836,470 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,491,000 after acquiring an additional 818,182 shares in the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Liberty Energy

Liberty Energy Inc provides hydraulic services and related technologies to onshore oil and natural gas exploration, and production companies in North America. The company offers hydraulic fracturing services, including complementary services, such as wireline services, proppant delivery solutions, field gas processing and treating, compressed natural gas (CNG) delivery, data analytics, related goods comprising sand mine operations, and technologies; and well site fueling and logistics.