Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) Upgraded to Buy at Citigroup

Citigroup upgraded shares of Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $21.00 target price on the stock, up from their previous target price of $12.00.

LBRT has been the topic of several other reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Liberty Energy from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Liberty Energy in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler set a $16.00 price objective on shares of Liberty Energy and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $16.10.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LBRT opened at $15.92 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.91. Liberty Energy has a one year low of $9.50 and a one year high of $23.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.21 and a beta of 0.74.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 16th. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $947.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $967.05 million. Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 1.69% and a net margin of 4.76%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Liberty Energy will post 0.58 EPS for the current year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 4th will be issued a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. This is an increase from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 4th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 28.57%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liberty Energy

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Liberty Energy during the second quarter worth about $29,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 213.7% during the 2nd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 3,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 2,457 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $48,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S acquired a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy in the 1st quarter worth approximately $50,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Liberty Energy by 281.1% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 3,193 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.22% 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.