Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) Shares Gap Up - Here's Why

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT - Get Free Report) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $15.42, but opened at $16.21. Liberty Energy shares last traded at $16.27, with a volume of 507,874 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LBRT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup lifted their price target on Liberty Energy from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered Liberty Energy from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $24.00 to $19.00 in a report on Monday, March 24th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Liberty Energy from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their target price for the company from $20.00 to $25.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Atb Cap Markets raised shares of Liberty Energy from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $21.90.

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Liberty Energy Stock Down 0.9 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market cap of $2.53 billion, a PE ratio of 8.38 and a beta of 1.58. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $17.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.48.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.16 by ($0.06). Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 14.28% and a net margin of 7.32%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.04%. Liberty Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Liberty Energy

In other news, CFO Michael Stock sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.00, for a total transaction of $115,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 675,207 shares in the company, valued at $15,529,761. This represents a 0.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 35,000 shares of company stock valued at $710,800. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LBRT. FMR LLC raised its stake in Liberty Energy by 17.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,115,282 shares of the company's stock worth $345,821,000 after acquiring an additional 2,640,119 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 83.5% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,828,712 shares of the company's stock worth $96,043,000 after purchasing an additional 2,197,352 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Liberty Energy by 61.2% in the third 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. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $20,337,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Liberty Energy by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,178,089 shares of the company's stock worth $102,992,000 after purchasing an additional 505,634 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.22% of the company's stock.

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.