Principal Financial Group Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT - Free Report) by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 872,215 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 37,927 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.53% of Liberty Energy worth $16,651,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 96.8% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,704 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 838 shares during the period. Quarry LP increased its holdings in Liberty Energy by 237.5% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,991 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 1,401 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 900 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 82.1% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,174 shares of the company's stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 1,431 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE grew its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 93.2% during the 3rd 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.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

NYSE LBRT traded down $0.06 during trading on Friday, reaching $18.69. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,308,270 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,550,857. Liberty Energy Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.57 and a twelve month high of $24.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.23. The business's fifty day moving average price is $18.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.69. The firm has a market cap of $3.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.90 and a beta of 1.71.

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 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%. The company's revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.85 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This is a boost from Liberty Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.71%. Liberty Energy's dividend payout ratio is 15.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the business's 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,638,813 shares in the company, valued at $52,169,333.01. The trade was a 0.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael Stock sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.23, for a total transaction of $288,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 730,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,041,880.61. The trade was a 2.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 87,973 shares of company stock valued at $1,641,235. Corporate insiders own 3.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Liberty Energy in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $19.00 target price for the company. Citigroup cut shares of Liberty Energy from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $25.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Atb Cap Markets raised shares of Liberty Energy from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Liberty Energy has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $22.50.

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.