Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) Stock Gets Price Target Cut from Barclays

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) had its price objective reduced by Barclays from $27.00 to $23.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on LBRT. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Liberty Energy from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Liberty Energy from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 24th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Liberty Energy from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, October 23rd. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Liberty Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.42.

Liberty Energy Stock Up 3.7%

Liberty Energy stock opened at $17.57 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.19, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.30. Liberty Energy has a fifty-two week low of $14.76 and a fifty-two week high of $34.48. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.63.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.19 billion. Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 2.13% and a net margin of 0.91%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 26.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.06) EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Liberty Energy will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 18th. Investors of record on Friday, December 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This is a boost from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 4th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 150.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Liberty Energy news, CFO Michael Stock sold 6,666 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 760,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,085,919.36. This represents a 0.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Ken Babcock bought 14,500 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 26th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $15.40 per share, with a total value of $223,300.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 83,258 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,282,173.20. This trade represents a 21.09% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 16,665 shares of company stock worth $319,301. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LBRT. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in Liberty Energy by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 7,855 shares of the company’s stock worth $226,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 79.6% in the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 405 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 32,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $939,000 after buying an additional 676 shares during the period. Amova Asset Management Americas Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 2.1% in the first quarter. Amova Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 32,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $939,000 after buying an additional 676 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 5.8% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 12,483 shares of the company’s stock valued at $360,000 after buying an additional 687 shares in the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Liberty Energy

Liberty Energy Inc is an oilfield services company that provides completion and production services to exploration and production companies. Its primary business is hydraulic fracturing, a well-stimulation technique used to improve the flow of oil and natural gas from unconventional reservoirs.

The company also offers wireline services, well diagnostics, frac data analysis, engineering support, and related technologies designed to help customers plan, execute, and evaluate well-completion operations.