Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 37,927 Shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT - Free Report) by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 872,215 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 37,927 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.52% of Liberty Energy worth $16,651,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Liberty Energy during the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 69.2% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,743 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 713 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Liberty Energy by 45.0% in the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,900 shares of the company's stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE grew its position in Liberty Energy by 93.2% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,180 shares of the company's stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 2,016 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC increased its stake in Liberty Energy by 43.3% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 6,213 shares of the company's stock valued at $130,000 after buying an additional 1,876 shares during the period. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Liberty Energy

In related news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $52,169,333.01. This trade represents a 0.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Michael Stock sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.01, for a total transaction of $300,150.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 750,207 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,011,642.07. This trade represents a 1.96 % 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 three months. Corporate insiders own 3.60% of the company's stock.

Liberty Energy Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE:LBRT traded down $0.44 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $16.90. The stock had a trading volume of 2,183,123 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,500,260. The company's 50 day moving average is $18.93 and its 200-day moving average is $20.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.23. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 12-month low of $16.57 and a 12-month high of $24.75. The company has a market cap of $2.76 billion, a PE ratio of 8.05 and a beta of 1.70.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share 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%. Liberty Energy's revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.85 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $0.08 dividend. This is a positive change from Liberty Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Liberty Energy's dividend payout ratio is presently 13.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on LBRT shares. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup cut Liberty Energy from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $25.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays lowered their target price on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Liberty Energy to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Five equities research 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $22.89.

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.