Prospera Financial Services Inc Boosts Stock Holdings in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Prospera Financial Services Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 7.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,047 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,091 shares during the quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc’s holdings in Liberty Energy were worth $306,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of LBRT. Canoe Financial LP lifted its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 20.4% during the third quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 4,124,695 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,408,000 after acquiring an additional 699,500 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Liberty Energy by 48.0% during the 2nd quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 1,981,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,385,000 after purchasing an additional 642,700 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Liberty Energy by 17.6% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,961,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,754,000 after purchasing an additional 594,051 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in Liberty Energy by 345.4% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 573,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,974,000 after buying an additional 444,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cardinal Point Capital Management ULC bought a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy during the third quarter valued at about $7,636,000. 98.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Michael Stock sold 5,000 shares of Liberty Energy 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 725,207 shares in the company, valued at $12,480,812.47. The trade was a 0.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was 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 $53,335,166.83. This trade represents a 0.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 99,037 shares of company stock valued at $1,911,802 over the last three months. 3.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LBRT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Liberty Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup cut Liberty Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced 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 Liberty Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Five research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Liberty Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.89.

Liberty Energy Stock Up 3.5 %

Shares of LBRT opened at $18.99 on Monday. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.57 and a 1 year high of $24.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $20.49. The firm has a market cap of $3.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.04 and a beta of 1.70.

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 business had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. Liberty Energy had a net margin of 8.02% and a return on equity of 18.50%. Liberty Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 1.75 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This is a boost from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is 13.33%.

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.