Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Raises Position in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 3.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 129,833 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,939 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Liberty Energy were worth $2,479,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Canoe Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 20.4% in the third quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 4,124,695 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,408,000 after purchasing an additional 699,500 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew 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 valued at $82,754,000 after buying an additional 594,051 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Liberty Energy by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,634,256 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,030,000 after acquiring an additional 67,362 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised 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 valued at $41,385,000 after acquiring an additional 642,700 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management lifted its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 19.5% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,717,591 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,880,000 after acquiring an additional 280,550 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LBRT opened at $18.38 on Wednesday. Liberty Energy Inc. has a one year low of $16.57 and a one 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.82 and a beta of 1.70. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $18.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.46.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.85 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $0.08 dividend. This is an increase from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.74%. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is presently 13.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LBRT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Liberty Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.89.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Liberty Energy news, CFO Michael Stock sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.01, for a total value of $300,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 750,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,011,642.07. The trade was a 1.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 in the company, 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 sold a total of 99,037 shares of company stock valued at $1,911,802 over the last quarter. 3.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.