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

Shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twelve ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $22.70.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on LBRT. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Atb Cap Markets cut Liberty Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI upgraded Liberty Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

LBRT opened at $17.54 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a market cap of $2.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.68. Liberty Energy has a 12 month low of $16.69 and a 12 month high of $24.75.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.10). Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 22.85% and a net margin of 9.53%. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.85 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Liberty Energy will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. This is an increase from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is presently 11.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Liberty Energy

In other news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.91, for a total transaction of $398,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,678,813 shares in the company, valued at $53,335,166.83. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Liberty Energy news, CFO Michael Stock sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.01, for a total transaction of $105,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 745,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,656,799.07. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.91, for a total transaction of $398,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,678,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,335,166.83. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 95,000 shares of company stock worth $1,945,650 over the last quarter. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Liberty Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LBRT. Foundry Partners LLC raised its holdings in Liberty Energy by 15.6% in the 1st quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 209,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,332,000 after acquiring an additional 28,153 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 114.2% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 174,265 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,611,000 after purchasing an additional 92,923 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Liberty Energy by 14.1% during the 1st quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 1,338,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,732,000 after purchasing an additional 165,400 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management boosted its stake in Liberty Energy by 60.2% in the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,437,041 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,775,000 after purchasing an additional 539,861 shares during the period. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in Liberty Energy in the 1st quarter valued at $690,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.22% 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.