TD Cowen Cuts Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) Price Target to $16.00

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) had its target price lowered by TD Cowen from $18.00 to $16.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a hold rating on the stock.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on LBRT. Evercore ISI raised Liberty Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price 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. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, January 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Liberty Energy in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $19.00 target price for the company. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Liberty Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.20.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

Shares of LBRT opened at $21.39 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.19 and a beta of 1.66. Liberty Energy has a fifty-two week low of $16.57 and a fifty-two week high of $24.75. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.23.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.10). Liberty Energy had a net margin of 8.02% and a return on equity of 18.50%. The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Liberty Energy will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This is a positive change from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.24%.

Insider Activity at Liberty Energy

In other news, CFO Michael Stock sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.21, for a total value of $86,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 725,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,480,812.47. This represents a 0.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 2,037 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.15, for a total transaction of $36,971.55. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,578,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,805,455.95. This trade represents a 0.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 77,973 shares of company stock worth $1,471,335. 3.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LBRT. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 45.1% in 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 in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Liberty Energy by 61.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,146,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,061,000 after acquiring an additional 1,193,918 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Liberty Energy by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 872,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,651,000 after acquiring an additional 37,927 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 168.2% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 62,979 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,202,000 after purchasing an additional 39,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Impala Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 89.2% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.