Van ECK Associates Corp Sells 210,137 Shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Van ECK Associates Corp reduced its stake in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT - Free Report) by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,926,233 shares of the company's stock after selling 210,137 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned approximately 1.16% of Liberty Energy worth $36,772,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy during the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Liberty Energy by 69.2% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,743 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 713 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 45.0% in the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,900 shares of the company's stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 27.7% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,273 shares of the company's stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 709 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 93.2% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,180 shares of the company's stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 2,016 shares during the period. 98.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup lowered shares of Liberty Energy from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $25.00 to $19.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI upgraded Liberty Energy to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Liberty Energy currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $22.89.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

LBRT traded up $0.41 on Monday, reaching $17.09. The stock had a trading volume of 1,863,143 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,503,708. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $19.41 and a 200-day moving average of $20.96. Liberty Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.57 and a fifty-two week high of $24.75. The company has a market capitalization of $2.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

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 business had revenue of $1.14 billion for 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%. Liberty Energy's revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current 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 paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. This is a positive change from Liberty Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. Liberty Energy's payout ratio is currently 13.33%.

Insider Activity at Liberty Energy

In related news, CFO Michael Stock sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.01, for a total value of $105,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 745,207 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,656,799.07. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Michael Stock sold 5,000 shares of Liberty Energy 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 directly owns 745,207 shares in the company, valued at $15,656,799.07. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.77, for a total value of $395,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,638,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $52,169,333.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 75,000 shares of company stock worth $1,487,250 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.60% 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.