Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Buys 166,443 Shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 8.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,237,247 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 166,443 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Liberty Energy were worth $42,709,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LBRT. Andina Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 3.9% in the second quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 18,599 shares of the company’s stock worth $389,000 after purchasing an additional 691 shares during the period. Creative Planning raised its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 19,456 shares of the company’s stock valued at $371,000 after purchasing an additional 703 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 69.2% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 713 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in Liberty Energy by 96.8% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 838 shares during the period. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC increased its stake in Liberty Energy by 45.0% in the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on LBRT. Barclays lowered their price objective on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup lowered shares of Liberty Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $25.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Atb Cap Markets downgraded shares of Liberty Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.89.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

LBRT stock opened at $18.40 on Monday. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.57 and a 52 week high of $24.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.76 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $20.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

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

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.74%. This is an increase from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is currently 13.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.91, for a total value of $398,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,678,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,335,166.83. This represents a 0.74 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael Stock sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.45, for a total transaction of $92,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 720,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,287,819.15. The trade was a 0.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 99,037 shares of company stock worth $1,911,802 over the last three months. 3.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Liberty Energy 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.