Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) Upgraded at Barclays

Barclays upgraded shares of Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research report released on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $27.00 price target on the stock, up from their prior price target of $23.00.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on Liberty Energy from $34.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $23.00 price target on shares of Liberty Energy in a report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Liberty Energy from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday, September 18th. Morgan Stanley set a $32.00 price objective on shares of Liberty Energy in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Liberty Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Liberty Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.54.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

Shares of LBRT opened at $18.27 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $2.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.61. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $25.58. Liberty Energy has a 12 month low of $11.52 and a 12 month high of $34.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.01. Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 1.14% and a net margin of 2.92%.The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.12 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Liberty Energy will post 0.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th were given a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 4th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.65%.

Insider Activity

In other Liberty Energy news, Director Arjun N. Murti acquired 14,053 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $17.79 per share, for a total transaction of $250,002.87. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 41,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $740,437.59. This trade represents a 50.98% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Michael Stock sold 6,666 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.84, for a total transaction of $132,253.44. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 760,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,085,919.36. This represents a 0.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LBRT. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,233,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $265,931,000 after purchasing an additional 431,269 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in Liberty Energy by 901.2% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,431,125 shares of the company’s stock valued at $127,616,000 after purchasing an additional 3,988,535 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Liberty Energy during the second quarter valued at about $61,185,000. Eventide Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Liberty Energy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,394,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 54.3% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 983,706 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,331,000 after purchasing an additional 346,239 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Energy Company Profile

Liberty Energy Inc is an oilfield services company that provides hydraulic fracturing and related completion services to exploration and production companies. Its operations support the development of unconventional oil and natural gas wells, primarily in North America.

The company’s services and technologies include pressure pumping, well stimulation, wireline services, proppant and logistics solutions, and digital tools designed to improve completion performance and operational efficiency.