Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) Shares Gap Up Following Earnings Beat

Shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT - Get Free Report) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $11.43, but opened at $12.70. Liberty Energy shares last traded at $12.54, with a volume of 469,307 shares trading hands.

The company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.01. Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 14.28% and a net margin of 7.32%. The business had revenue of $977.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $960.64 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.48 earnings per share.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. Liberty Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Liberty Energy from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $20.00 to $25.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Liberty Energy from $19.00 to $14.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Liberty Energy from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Liberty Energy from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Sunday, January 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut Liberty Energy from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $24.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $19.40.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Michael Stock sold 10,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.94, for a total transaction of $179,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 717,292 shares in the company, valued at $12,868,218.48. This trade represents a 1.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.90% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 61.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,146,179 shares of the company's stock valued at $60,061,000 after buying an additional 1,193,918 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Liberty Energy during the 4th quarter worth $498,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 897,040 shares of the company's stock valued at $17,842,000 after purchasing an additional 24,825 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Liberty Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $6,792,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Liberty Energy by 2.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,631,360 shares of the company's stock worth $53,706,000 after purchasing an additional 61,909 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.22% of the company's stock.

Liberty Energy Trading Up 9.2 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.27. The company has a market cap of $2.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.69 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $14.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.69.

About Liberty Energy

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.

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