Empowered Funds LLC Boosts Position in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 45.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 495,578 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 154,070 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC owned about 0.30% of Liberty Energy worth $9,461,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in Liberty Energy by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 14,262 shares of the company’s stock valued at $296,000 after purchasing an additional 543 shares in the last quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 3.9% in the second quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 18,599 shares of the company’s stock worth $389,000 after buying an additional 691 shares during the period. Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 3.7% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 19,456 shares of the company’s stock valued at $371,000 after buying an additional 703 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 69.2% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 713 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its position in Liberty Energy by 96.8% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 838 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Liberty Energy

In other Liberty Energy news, CFO Michael Stock sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.01, for a total value of $300,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 750,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,011,642.07. This represents a 1.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 2,037 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.15, for a total value of $36,971.55. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,578,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,805,455.95. This trade represents a 0.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 99,037 shares of company stock worth $1,911,802 in the last 90 days. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup downgraded shares of Liberty Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $25.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Liberty Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Liberty Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.89.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

Liberty Energy stock opened at $16.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 12 month low of $16.57 and a 12 month high of $24.75. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $18.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.64. The company has a market cap of $2.76 billion, a PE ratio of 8.05 and a beta of 1.70.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. Liberty Energy had a net margin of 8.02% and a return on equity of 18.50%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This is an increase from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.89%. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.33%.

Liberty Energy Profile

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.