Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $25.50.

LBRT has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Liberty Energy from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Barclays lifted their price target on Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Liberty Energy from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $24.00 target price on shares of Liberty Energy in a report on Monday, April 22nd.

Insider Activity at Liberty Energy

In other news, President Ron Gusek sold 50,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.99, for a total transaction of $1,149,500.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 1,213,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,892,824.41. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Liberty Energy news, CAO Ryan T. Gosney sold 2,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.50, for a total value of $47,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 170,882 shares in the company, valued at $4,015,727. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Ron Gusek sold 50,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.99, for a total transaction of $1,149,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 1,213,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,892,824.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 176,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,980,900 in the last 90 days. 3.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liberty Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Liberty Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 70.8% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,909 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 1,206 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 27.7% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,273 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 709 shares in the last quarter. Finally, C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. purchased a new position in Liberty Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $63,000. 98.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LBRT opened at $20.12 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.35 billion, a PE ratio of 7.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.82. Liberty Energy has a 52 week low of $12.38 and a 52 week high of $24.75. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $22.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.48.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.06). Liberty Energy had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 26.46%. The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.08 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. Liberty Energy’s quarterly revenue was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Liberty Energy will post 2.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 6th will be given a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 6th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.22%.

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.