Morgan Stanley Upgrades Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) to “Overweight”

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) was upgraded by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report issued on Thursday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage currently has a $25.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of $20.00. Morgan Stanley’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 62.18% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on LBRT. Citigroup increased their price target on Liberty Energy from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered Liberty Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $24.00 to $19.00 in a report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Liberty Energy from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Atb Cap Markets raised shares of Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Liberty Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.90.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LBRT opened at $15.42 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The firm has a market cap of $2.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.24 and a beta of 1.58. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $17.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.55. Liberty Energy has a one year low of $13.86 and a one year high of $24.75.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Liberty Energy will post 0.58 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Liberty Energy news, CFO Michael Stock sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.51, for a total transaction of $97,550.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 700,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,661,038.57. The trade was a 0.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 40,000 shares of company stock worth $808,350 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liberty Energy

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of LBRT. Quarry LP increased its holdings in Liberty Energy by 237.5% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,401 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 604.9% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,460 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 2,111 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 257.8% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,197 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 1,583 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Liberty Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $60,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 176.3% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 3,423 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 2,184 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.