DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Reduces Stock Holdings in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale cut its holdings in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 68.5% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,106 shares of the company’s stock after selling 24,142 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in Liberty Energy were worth $231,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Foundry Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 15.6% in the 1st quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 209,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,332,000 after purchasing an additional 28,153 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Liberty Energy by 114.2% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 174,265 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,611,000 after purchasing an additional 92,923 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 14.1% in the first quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 1,338,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,732,000 after buying an additional 165,400 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 60.2% during the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,437,041 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,775,000 after buying an additional 539,861 shares during the period. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy during the first quarter valued at $690,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

NYSE:LBRT opened at $20.94 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $20.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.45. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.33 and a 1-year high of $24.75. The firm has a market cap of $3.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.69.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.01. Liberty Energy had a net margin of 9.53% and a return on equity of 22.85%. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.87 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 2.17 EPS for the current year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a $0.07 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is 10.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen reduced their target price on Liberty Energy from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Liberty Energy from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Citigroup upgraded Liberty Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.78.

Insider Buying and Selling at Liberty Energy

In other news, CFO Michael Stock sold 4,374 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.01, for a total transaction of $91,897.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 785,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,497,199.07. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,678,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,335,166.83. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Michael Stock sold 4,374 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.01, for a total value of $91,897.74. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 785,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,497,199.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 100,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,084,231. Company insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

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.