HighTower Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 70.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 25,115 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,362 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Liberty Energy were worth $475,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Creative Planning grew its stake in Liberty Energy by 3.7% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 19,456 shares of the company’s stock worth $371,000 after purchasing an additional 703 shares in the last quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 19,413 shares of the company’s stock worth $371,000 after buying an additional 814 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its position in Liberty Energy by 96.8% during 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. nVerses Capital LLC increased its position in Liberty Energy by 45.0% during the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its holdings 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 in the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LBRT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Atb Cap Markets upgraded Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup lowered Liberty Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $25.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.50.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

LBRT stock opened at $18.17 on Friday. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.57 and a 1 year high of $24.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.97 billion, a PE ratio of 8.65 and a beta of 1.71. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.84.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.10). Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 18.50% and a net margin of 8.02%. The company had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This is a boost from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Liberty Energy news, CFO Michael Stock sold 5,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.21, for a total value of $86,050.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 725,207 shares in the company, valued at $12,480,812.47. The trade was a 0.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.77, for a total value of $395,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,638,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,169,333.01. This represents a 0.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 87,973 shares of company stock valued at $1,641,235 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.60% 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.