Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $22.20.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on LBRT shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on 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 reduced their price objective on Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 5th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th.

Insider Transactions at Liberty Energy

In other news, CFO Michael Stock sold 5,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.45, for a total value of $92,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 720,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,287,819.15. The trade was a 0.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 2,936 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.16, for a total value of $56,253.76. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,543,877 shares in the company, valued at $48,740,683.32. This represents a 0.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 77,973 shares of company stock worth $1,471,335. Company insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liberty Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Creative Planning increased its stake in Liberty Energy by 3.7% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 19,456 shares of the company’s stock valued at $371,000 after acquiring an additional 703 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Liberty Energy by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 82,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,635,000 after acquiring an additional 708 shares during the period. Andina Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 19,413 shares of the company’s stock valued at $371,000 after purchasing an additional 814 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 96.8% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 838 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 24.8% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,906 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,000 after purchasing an additional 974 shares during the period. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Liberty Energy stock opened at $21.39 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.50 billion, a PE ratio of 10.19 and a beta of 1.66. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Liberty Energy has a 12 month low of $16.57 and a 12 month high of $24.75.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last issued its 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 return on equity of 18.50% and a net margin of 8.02%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Liberty Energy will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This is a positive change from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is presently 15.24%.

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.