Liberty Energy Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:LBRT)

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock investors purchased 8,817 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 3,118% compared to the average daily volume of 274 call options.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

Shares of LBRT opened at $17.73 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.44 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.23. Liberty Energy has a 1 year low of $16.57 and a 1 year high of $24.75. The company’s fifty day moving average is $18.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.63.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. Liberty Energy had a net margin of 8.02% and a return on equity of 18.50%. The firm’s revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.85 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Liberty Energy will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.81%. 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 dividend payout ratio is 15.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Liberty Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Atb Cap Markets downgraded shares of Liberty Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.89.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Liberty Energy news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 2,037 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.15, for a total value of $36,971.55. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,578,813 shares in the company, valued at $46,805,455.95. This represents a 0.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael Stock sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.01, for a total transaction of $300,150.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 750,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,011,642.07. The trade was a 1.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 99,037 shares of company stock worth $1,911,802 over the last 90 days. 3.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Liberty Energy

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC raised its position in Liberty Energy by 17.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,115,282 shares of the company’s stock worth $345,821,000 after acquiring an additional 2,640,119 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 15.9% during the 3rd 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. Canoe Financial LP grew its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 20.4% during the 3rd quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 4,124,695 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,408,000 after purchasing an additional 699,500 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 48.0% during the 2nd quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 1,981,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,385,000 after purchasing an additional 642,700 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 17.6% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,961,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,754,000 after purchasing an additional 594,051 shares in the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is 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.