Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT - Get Free Report) have received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $22.89.

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Atb Cap Markets downgraded shares of Liberty Energy from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 19th. Barclays cut their price target on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI upgraded Liberty Energy to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Citigroup cut Liberty Energy from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $25.00 to $19.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th.

Insider Activity

In other Liberty Energy news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.77, for a total value of $395,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,638,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,169,333.01. This trade represents a 0.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Michael Stock sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.01, for a total value of $300,150.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 750,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,011,642.07. This trade represents a 1.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 99,037 shares of company stock worth $1,911,802. Corporate insiders own 3.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Liberty Energy by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,779,906 shares of the company's stock valued at $72,173,000 after acquiring an additional 207,527 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc increased its holdings in Liberty Energy by 196.9% in the third quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 37,698 shares of the company's stock valued at $720,000 after purchasing an additional 25,000 shares during the period. Impala Asset Management LLC raised its position in Liberty Energy by 89.2% during the 3rd quarter. Impala Asset Management LLC now owns 350,000 shares of the company's stock worth $6,682,000 after purchasing an additional 165,000 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in Liberty Energy by 197.9% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 286,661 shares of the company's stock worth $5,471,000 after purchasing an additional 190,445 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its holdings in Liberty Energy by 29.0% during the 3rd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 80,289 shares of the company's stock worth $1,533,000 after buying an additional 18,069 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.22% of the company's stock.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

LBRT stock traded down $0.44 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $16.90. 2,183,123 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,500,260. Liberty Energy has a 1-year low of $16.57 and a 1-year high of $24.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.76 billion, a PE ratio of 8.05 and a beta of 1.70. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 18.50% and a net margin of 8.02%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.85 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Liberty Energy will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This is an increase from Liberty Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.89%. Liberty Energy's payout ratio is presently 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.