Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) Shares Purchased by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 897,040 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,825 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.55% of Liberty Energy worth $17,842,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 3.7% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 19,456 shares of the company’s stock worth $371,000 after buying an additional 703 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Liberty Energy by 1,702.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 216,366 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,130,000 after acquiring an additional 204,360 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its stake in Liberty Energy by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 79,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,525,000 after purchasing an additional 3,600 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 286.8% in the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 42,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $820,000 after purchasing an additional 31,847 shares during the period. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 6.0% in the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 94,347 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,801,000 after purchasing an additional 5,308 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LBRT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Liberty Energy from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Atb Cap Markets upgraded shares of Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Liberty Energy in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $19.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.30.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Michael Stock sold 10,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 705,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,039,277.43. The trade was a 1.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 2,936 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.16, for a total value of $56,253.76. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,543,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,740,683.32. The trade was a 0.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 68,936 shares of company stock worth $1,341,184 over the last 90 days. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

Shares of LBRT stock opened at $17.94 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 12-month low of $16.57 and a 12-month high of $24.75. The business’s 50 day moving average is $19.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.28. The company has a market capitalization of $2.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.59 and a beta of 1.63.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.16 by ($0.06). Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 14.28% and a net margin of 7.32%. Analysts expect that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is 17.11%.

Liberty Energy 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.