Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Buys New Stake in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new position in shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 15,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 96.8% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 838 shares during the period. Quarry LP grew its holdings in Liberty Energy by 237.5% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 1,401 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Liberty Energy by 82.1% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 1,431 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 93.2% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,180 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 2,016 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 24.8% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,906 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,000 after acquiring an additional 974 shares during the period. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 2,936 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.16, for a total transaction of $56,253.76. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,543,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,740,683.32. This represents a 0.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Michael Stock sold 5,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.51, for a total value of $97,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 700,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,661,038.57. This represents a 0.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 68,936 shares of company stock valued at $1,341,184. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

Liberty Energy stock opened at $17.75 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The company has a market capitalization of $2.90 billion, a PE ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 1.63. Liberty Energy Inc. has a one year low of $16.57 and a one year high of $24.75.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by ($0.06). Liberty Energy had a net margin of 7.32% and a return on equity of 14.28%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.80%. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Liberty Energy in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $19.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI raised Liberty Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Liberty Energy from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.30.

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.