Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) Lowered to Sell Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Saturday morning.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on LBRT. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $31.00 price target on shares of Liberty Energy in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Liberty Energy from $34.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Liberty Energy from $38.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 24th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Liberty Energy in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Liberty Energy in a research report on Wednesday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.09.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

LBRT opened at $18.65 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.20, a PEG ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.54. The company’s 50 day moving average is $25.69 and its 200 day moving average is $27.10. Liberty Energy has a 12-month low of $9.90 and a 12-month high of $34.48.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.01. Liberty Energy had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 1.14%. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.12 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Liberty Energy will post 0.25 EPS for the current year.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Investors of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is 48.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Arjun N. Murti bought 14,053 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was bought at an average price of $17.79 per share, with a total value of $250,002.87. Following the acquisition, the director owned 41,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $740,437.59. This represents a 50.98% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman William F. Kimble sold 7,350 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.92, for a total value of $249,312.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 89,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,046,185.60. The trade was a 7.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 54,012 shares of company stock valued at $1,673,803. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Liberty Energy

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LBRT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Liberty Energy by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,096,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $334,060,000 after purchasing an additional 97,998 shares during the period. Round Rock Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Liberty Energy by 65.3% during the 4th quarter. Round Rock Advisors LLC now owns 104,213 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,956,000 after buying an additional 41,163 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio raised its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 122.4% during the fourth quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 168,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,116,000 after buying an additional 92,900 shares during the last quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $629,000. Finally, UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 20.3% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 790,706 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,596,000 after buying an additional 133,167 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.22% 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. As of as of December 31, 2023, the company owned and operated a fleet of approximately 40 active hydraulic fracturing; and two sand mines in the Permian Basin.