Royce & Associates LP Grows Stock Holdings in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Royce & Associates LP lifted its position in shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT - Free Report) by 543.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 307,855 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 260,000 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP owned approximately 0.19% of Liberty Energy worth $6,123,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Liberty Energy by 17.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,115,282 shares of the company's stock valued at $345,821,000 after acquiring an additional 2,640,119 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Liberty Energy by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,012,382 shares of the company's stock valued at $133,866,000 after acquiring an additional 963,068 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Liberty Energy by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,662,830 shares of the company's stock valued at $127,193,000 after acquiring an additional 176,887 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Liberty Energy by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,779,906 shares of the company's stock valued at $72,173,000 after acquiring an additional 207,527 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Liberty Energy by 61.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,146,179 shares of the company's stock valued at $60,061,000 after acquiring an additional 1,193,918 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.22% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on LBRT. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Liberty Energy in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $19.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Atb Cap Markets upgraded shares of Liberty Energy from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $22.30.

Liberty Energy Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:LBRT traded up $0.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $14.63. 15,672,983 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,550,821. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.82 and a beta of 1.58. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 52 week low of $13.86 and a 52 week high of $24.75. The firm's 50 day moving average is $17.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.16 by ($0.06). Liberty Energy had a net margin of 7.32% and a return on equity of 14.28%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. Liberty Energy's payout ratio is 17.11%.

Insider Activity at Liberty Energy

In other Liberty Energy news, CFO Michael Stock sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.51, for a total value of $97,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 700,207 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,661,038.57. The trade was a 0.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 40,000 shares of company stock worth $808,350. Insiders own 1.90% of the company's stock.

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.