Moran Wealth Management LLC Cuts Stake in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Moran Wealth Management LLC lessened its holdings in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT - Free Report) by 58.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 88,266 shares of the company's stock after selling 124,780 shares during the period. Moran Wealth Management LLC owned 0.05% of Liberty Energy worth $1,685,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LBRT. Canoe Financial LP lifted its position in Liberty Energy by 20.4% during the 3rd quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 4,124,695 shares of the company's stock worth $79,408,000 after acquiring an additional 699,500 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in 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. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Liberty Energy by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,634,256 shares of the company's stock worth $55,030,000 after acquiring an additional 67,362 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Liberty Energy by 48.0% during the 2nd quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 1,981,100 shares of the company's stock worth $41,385,000 after acquiring an additional 642,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management lifted its position in Liberty Energy by 19.5% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,717,591 shares of the company's stock worth $35,880,000 after acquiring an additional 280,550 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.22% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Liberty Energy

In other news, CFO Michael Stock sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.01, for a total transaction of $300,150.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 750,207 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,011,642.07. This trade represents a 1.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.91, for a total transaction of $398,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,678,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,335,166.83. The trade was a 0.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 99,037 shares of company stock valued at $1,911,802 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.60% of the company's stock.

Liberty Energy Trading Up 3.5 %

NYSE:LBRT traded up $0.64 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $18.99. 4,186,866 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,534,478. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 12-month low of $16.57 and a 12-month high of $24.75. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $18.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $20.53. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.13 and a beta of 1.70.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This is an increase from Liberty Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. Liberty Energy's dividend payout ratio is 15.24%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price 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. Citigroup cut shares of Liberty Energy from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective 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 on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 18th. Five equities research 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Liberty Energy has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $22.89.

Liberty Energy 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.