Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twelve analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $22.50.

LBRT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup cut shares of Liberty Energy from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $25.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Liberty Energy to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Atb Cap Markets raised Liberty Energy from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Liberty Energy in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $19.00 price target for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 18th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Liberty Energy

In other Liberty Energy news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 12,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.44, for a total value of $209,280.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,606,813 shares in the company, valued at $45,462,818.72. The trade was a 0.46 % 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, CFO Michael Stock sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.82, for a total transaction of $416,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 680,207 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,161,909.74. This trade represents a 2.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 77,973 shares of company stock valued at $1,471,335 in the last ninety days. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liberty Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Creative Planning increased its holdings in Liberty Energy by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 19,456 shares of the company's stock worth $371,000 after purchasing an additional 703 shares in the last quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 4.4% during the third quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 19,413 shares of the company's stock worth $371,000 after purchasing an additional 814 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 96.8% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,704 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 838 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Liberty Energy by 24.8% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,906 shares of the company's stock valued at $94,000 after buying an additional 974 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prospera Financial Services Inc boosted its position in Liberty Energy by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 16,047 shares of the company's stock worth $306,000 after buying an additional 1,091 shares during the period. 98.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

Liberty Energy stock traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $20.89. 2,815,756 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,845,578. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $18.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.64. The firm has a market cap of $3.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.95 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.23. Liberty Energy has a 52 week low of $16.57 and a 52 week high of $24.75.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.10). Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 18.50% and a net margin of 8.02%. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Liberty Energy will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This is a boost from Liberty Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. Liberty Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 15.24%.

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.