Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) Cut to Sector Perform at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a research report report published on Monday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $19.00 target price on the stock, down from their prior target price of $24.00.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on LBRT. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on Liberty Energy from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, January 5th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Liberty Energy from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Liberty Energy in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $19.00 price objective on the stock. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.80.

Liberty Energy Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of LBRT opened at $15.42 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $2.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.24 and a beta of 1.58. Liberty Energy has a fifty-two week low of $13.86 and a fifty-two week high of $24.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.27. The business has a 50-day moving average of $17.70 and a 200 day moving average of $18.55.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by ($0.06). Liberty Energy had a net margin of 7.32% and a return on equity of 14.28%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Liberty Energy will post 0.58 EPS for the current year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 6th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.11%.

Insider Transactions at Liberty Energy

In other Liberty Energy news, CFO Michael Stock sold 5,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.51, for a total value of $97,550.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 700,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,661,038.57. The trade was a 0.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 40,000 shares of company stock worth $808,350. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Liberty Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Liberty Energy by 17.8% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 24,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $471,000 after buying an additional 3,733 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 3.1% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 129,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,479,000 after acquiring an additional 3,939 shares during the last quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 7.3% during the third quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 16,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $306,000 after purchasing an additional 1,091 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy in the third quarter worth about $904,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 8.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,237,247 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,709,000 after purchasing an additional 166,443 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Energy Company 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.