Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) Price Target to $22.00

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) had its price objective lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $24.00 to $22.00 in a research note released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on LBRT. Citigroup increased their price target on Liberty Energy from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Liberty Energy in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $19.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Five equities research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Liberty Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.30.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

Shares of Liberty Energy stock opened at $18.30 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $19.83 and its 200 day moving average is $19.74. Liberty Energy has a one year low of $16.57 and a one year high of $24.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.23. The stock has a market cap of $2.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.79 and a beta of 1.66.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by ($0.06). Liberty Energy had a net margin of 7.32% and a return on equity of 14.37%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Liberty Energy will post 0.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.11%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.44, for a total transaction of $209,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,606,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,462,818.72. This trade represents a 0.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Michael Stock sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.49, for a total value of $184,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 705,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,039,277.43. This represents a 1.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 77,973 shares of company stock worth $1,500,285 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Liberty Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LBRT. FMR LLC increased its stake in Liberty Energy by 17.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,115,282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $345,821,000 after buying an additional 2,640,119 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Liberty Energy by 15.9% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,012,382 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,866,000 after purchasing an additional 963,068 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Liberty Energy by 2.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,662,830 shares of the company’s stock valued at $127,193,000 after purchasing an additional 176,887 shares during the period. Canoe Financial LP boosted its holdings in Liberty Energy by 20.4% in the 3rd quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 4,124,695 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,408,000 after purchasing an additional 699,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,779,906 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,173,000 after buying an additional 207,527 shares during the period. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.