The Goldman Sachs Group Begins Coverage on Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT)

Stock analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) in a research note issued to investors on Friday. The brokerage set a “neutral” rating and a $19.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price target indicates a potential downside of 0.73% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on LBRT. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Liberty Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $25.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Atb Cap Markets raised Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.50.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

Shares of LBRT traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $19.14. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 299,237 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,542,928. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $18.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.06. Liberty Energy has a fifty-two week low of $16.57 and a fifty-two week high of $24.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.09 and a beta of 1.71.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 18.50% and a net margin of 8.02%. The company had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Liberty Energy will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Liberty Energy

In other Liberty Energy news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,678,813 shares in the company, valued at $53,335,166.83. This represents a 0.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael Stock sold 15,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.23, for a total value of $288,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 730,207 shares in the company, valued at $14,041,880.61. The trade was a 2.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 112,973 shares of company stock valued at $2,144,485. Corporate insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liberty Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LBRT. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Liberty Energy by 45.1% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 495,578 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,461,000 after purchasing an additional 154,070 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 4.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 872,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,651,000 after buying an additional 37,927 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC grew its position in Liberty Energy by 168.2% during the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 62,979 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,202,000 after buying an additional 39,497 shares in the last quarter. Impala Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Liberty Energy by 89.2% during the third quarter. Impala Asset Management LLC now owns 350,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,682,000 after acquiring an additional 165,000 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Liberty Energy by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,237,247 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,709,000 after acquiring an additional 166,443 shares in the last quarter. 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.