Liberty Energy’s (LBRT) “Equal Weight” Rating Reiterated at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley restated their equal weight rating on shares of Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) in a research report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $24.00 target price on the stock.

LBRT has been the subject of several other research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Liberty Energy presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $24.30.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

LBRT opened at $22.76 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $21.32 and a 200-day moving average of $19.79. The company has a market capitalization of $3.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.31, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.85. Liberty Energy has a 1-year low of $11.62 and a 1-year high of $23.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.48.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.08 billion. Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 26.46% and a net margin of 10.43%. Liberty Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Liberty Energy will post 2.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.07 per share. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 5th. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is 10.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Liberty Energy

In other Liberty Energy news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.66, for a total transaction of $453,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,858,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,780,725.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.66, for a total value of $453,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,858,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,780,725.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director William F. Kimble sold 12,459 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.55, for a total transaction of $268,491.45. Following the completion of 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 ninety days. Company insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Liberty Energy

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 1,777.4% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 233,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,232,000 after acquiring an additional 220,854 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Liberty Energy by 12.4% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,241,076 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,505,000 after purchasing an additional 247,074 shares during the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Liberty Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,532,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board acquired a new stake in Liberty Energy during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,549,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Liberty Energy by 37.8% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 237,090 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,391,000 after purchasing an additional 65,062 shares during 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.