Eagle Asset Management Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Eagle Asset Management Inc. reduced its holdings in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT - Free Report) by 75.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 218,653 shares of the company's stock after selling 667,609 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. owned approximately 0.13% of Liberty Energy worth $3,866,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Liberty Energy by 15.9% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,012,382 shares of the company's stock valued at $133,866,000 after acquiring an additional 963,068 shares during the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP grew its stake 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 valued at $79,408,000 after buying an additional 699,500 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 48.0% in the second quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 1,981,100 shares of the company's stock worth $41,385,000 after buying an additional 642,700 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 17.6% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,961,415 shares of the company's stock worth $82,754,000 after acquiring an additional 594,051 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted 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 acquiring an additional 444,500 shares during the period. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on LBRT shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Liberty Energy from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $25.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target 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, October 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Liberty Energy to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Liberty Energy has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $22.89.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

LBRT stock traded down $0.27 during trading on Monday, hitting $18.72. 3,706,413 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,539,650. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.57 and a 1 year high of $24.75. The company has a market cap of $3.06 billion, a PE ratio of 8.93 and a beta of 1.70. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $18.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $1.14 billion during 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.71%. This is a boost from Liberty Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. Liberty Energy's dividend payout ratio is presently 13.33%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 2,037 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.15, for a total transaction of $36,971.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,578,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,805,455.95. This trade represents a 0.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Michael Stock sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.01, for a total transaction of $105,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 745,207 shares in the company, valued at $15,656,799.07. The trade was a 0.67 % 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 worth $1,911,802 over the last quarter. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.