Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) Shares Gap Up - Should You Buy?

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $16.90, but opened at $17.68. Liberty Energy shares last traded at $17.37, with a volume of 3,475,221 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on LBRT shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays dropped 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. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI upgraded Liberty Energy to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Citigroup cut 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 report on Friday, October 18th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $22.89.

Liberty Energy Stock Up 4.9 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $18.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $20.63. The company has a market capitalization of $2.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.44 and a beta of 1.70.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) 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 net margin of 8.02% and a return on equity of 18.50%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This is a boost from Liberty Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. Liberty Energy's dividend payout ratio is 15.24%.

Insider Activity

In other Liberty Energy news, CFO Michael Stock sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.01, for a total value of $300,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 750,207 shares in the company, valued at $15,011,642.07. This represents a 1.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.91, for a total transaction of $398,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,678,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $53,335,166.83. The trade was a 0.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 99,037 shares of company stock worth $1,911,802 over the last quarter. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liberty Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in Liberty Energy by 45.1% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 495,578 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,461,000 after acquiring an additional 154,070 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 872,215 shares of the company's stock valued at $16,651,000 after purchasing an additional 37,927 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 114.2% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 174,265 shares of the company's stock worth $3,611,000 after purchasing an additional 92,923 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy in the first quarter worth $690,000. Finally, BOKF NA bought a new stake in Liberty Energy during the first quarter valued at $1,490,000. Institutional investors own 98.22% of the company's stock.

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.