Great Lakes Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Position in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 125,924 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,001 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Liberty Energy were worth $2,505,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LBRT. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 96.8% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 838 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Liberty Energy by 604.9% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,460 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 2,111 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management purchased a new position in Liberty Energy during the fourth quarter worth $60,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 2,184 shares during the period. 98.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on LBRT shares. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Liberty Energy in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $19.00 price objective for the company. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 5th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Atb Cap Markets raised shares of Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Five investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.30.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

LBRT stock opened at $14.55 on Friday. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $18.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.81. The company has a market capitalization of $2.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.78 and a beta of 1.58. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 1-year low of $13.85 and a 1-year high of $24.75.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last released 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 net margin of 7.32% and a return on equity of 14.28%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.20%. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is currently 17.11%.

Insider Activity at Liberty Energy

In other Liberty Energy news, CFO Michael Stock sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.82, for a total value of $416,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 680,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,161,909.74. The trade was a 2.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold 40,000 shares of company stock worth $808,350 over the last three months. 1.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.