Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) saw a significant drop in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 16,370,000 shares, a drop of 17.7% from the March 31st total of 19,900,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,010,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.4 days. Currently, 10.2% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insider Transactions at Liberty Energy

In other news, CAO Ryan T. Gosney sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total value of $123,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 140,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,884,473. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director William F. Kimble sold 12,459 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.55, for a total transaction of $268,491.45. Following the transaction, the director now owns 69,963 shares in the company, valued at $1,507,702.65. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ryan T. Gosney sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total value of $123,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 140,706 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,884,473. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 98,459 shares of company stock worth $2,077,491 over the last ninety days. 3.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liberty Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LBRT. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new position in Liberty Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Liberty Energy in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 70.8% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,909 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 1,206 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 59.7% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 1,183 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 27.7% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,273 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 709 shares during the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LBRT remained flat at $23.01 during midday trading on Friday. The stock had a trading volume of 1,960,473 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,645,986. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.48. Liberty Energy has a 12 month low of $11.62 and a 12 month high of $23.31. The company has a market cap of $3.84 billion, a PE ratio of 8.40, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.85.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.08 billion. Liberty Energy had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 26.46%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Liberty Energy will post 2.53 EPS for the current year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 6th will be issued a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 5th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Liberty Energy from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $24.00 target price on shares of Liberty Energy in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $24.30.

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.