Analysts Set Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) Price Target at $22.89

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $22.89.

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Barclays cut 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. Atb Cap Markets cut Liberty Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup downgraded Liberty Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $25.00 to $19.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 18th.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

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

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

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This is a boost from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is 15.24%.

Insider Transactions at Liberty Energy

In other news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.77, for a total transaction of $395,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,638,813 shares in the company, valued at $52,169,333.01. The trade was a 0.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Michael Stock sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.01, for a total value of $300,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 750,207 shares in the company, valued at $15,011,642.07. This represents a 1.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 99,037 shares of company stock valued at $1,911,802 over the last three months. 3.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Liberty Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LBRT. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 14,262 shares of the company’s stock valued at $296,000 after purchasing an additional 543 shares in the last quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Liberty Energy by 3.9% during the second quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 18,599 shares of the company’s stock valued at $389,000 after buying an additional 691 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 3.7% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 19,456 shares of the company’s stock worth $371,000 after buying an additional 703 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 69.2% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 713 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 96.8% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 838 shares in the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is currently 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.