Penn Capital Management Company LLC Invests $5.37 Million in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Penn Capital Management Company LLC purchased a new position in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 269,809 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,367,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Liberty Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $428,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $1,591,000. Syon Capital LLC bought a new position in Liberty Energy in the 4th quarter worth $230,000. MML Investors Services LLC increased its stake in Liberty Energy by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 128,730 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,560,000 after buying an additional 5,981 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Liberty Energy by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 98,038 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,950,000 after acquiring an additional 4,978 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on LBRT. Royal Bank of Canada cut Liberty Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $24.00 to $19.00 in a report on Monday, March 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Liberty Energy from $19.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Liberty Energy from $16.00 to $13.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Liberty Energy from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on Liberty Energy from $10.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.05.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

LBRT stock opened at $12.07 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $14.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 52-week low of $9.50 and a 52-week high of $24.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.45 and a beta of 1.18.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $977.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $960.64 million. Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 14.28% and a net margin of 7.32%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.48 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.58 EPS for the current year.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.65%. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.19%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Michael Stock sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.94, for a total transaction of $179,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 717,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,868,218.48. This trade represents a 1.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

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.