Atb Cap Markets Lowers Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) to Hold

Atb Cap Markets lowered shares of Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Thursday, Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Liberty Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $25.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.70.

Liberty Energy Trading Down 3.3 %

Liberty Energy stock opened at $17.70 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $2.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.68. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $20.03 and a 200-day moving average of $21.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.07. Liberty Energy has a one year low of $16.69 and a one year high of $24.75.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 22.85% and a net margin of 9.53%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.85 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Liberty Energy will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This is an increase from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.68%.

Insider Activity at Liberty Energy

In other news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.91, for a total value of $398,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,678,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,335,166.83. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Liberty Energy news, CFO Michael Stock sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.23, for a total transaction of $288,450.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 730,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,041,880.61. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.91, for a total transaction of $398,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,678,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,335,166.83. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 95,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,945,650 in the last quarter. Insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liberty Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new position in Liberty Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Liberty Energy by 69.2% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 713 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in Liberty Energy by 27.7% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,273 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 709 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC grew its holdings in Liberty Energy by 45.0% in the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC increased its stake in Liberty Energy by 43.3% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 6,213 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,000 after purchasing an additional 1,876 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

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.