Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $22.30.

LBRT has been the subject of several research reports. Atb Cap Markets upgraded Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Liberty Energy from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup lifted their target price on Liberty Energy from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Liberty Energy from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st.

Liberty Energy Stock Down 0.7 %

LBRT stock opened at $17.29 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.27. The company has a market capitalization of $2.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.24 and a beta of 1.63. Liberty Energy has a fifty-two week low of $16.57 and a fifty-two week high of $24.75. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $19.53 and a 200-day moving average of $19.23.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last posted its quarterly 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%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Liberty Energy will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Liberty Energy news, CFO Michael Stock sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.49, for a total transaction of $184,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 705,207 shares in the company, valued at $13,039,277.43. This trade represents a 1.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 2,936 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.16, for a total transaction of $56,253.76. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,543,877 shares in the company, 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 68,936 shares of company stock worth $1,341,184. Insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LBRT. FMR LLC grew its position in Liberty Energy by 17.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,115,282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $345,821,000 after acquiring an additional 2,640,119 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 83.5% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,828,712 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,043,000 after purchasing an additional 2,197,352 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 61.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,146,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,061,000 after purchasing an additional 1,193,918 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $20,337,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 15.9% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,012,382 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,866,000 after purchasing an additional 963,068 shares during the period. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.