KBC Group NV Purchases 974 Shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 24.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,906 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 974 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Liberty Energy were worth $94,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of LBRT. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 131,559 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,725,000 after acquiring an additional 8,459 shares in the last quarter. BOKF NA bought a new position in Liberty Energy in the 1st quarter worth about $1,490,000. Paloma Partners Management Co bought a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy during the 1st quarter valued at about $349,000. Caxton Associates LP grew its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 60.1% during the first quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 47,019 shares of the company’s stock worth $974,000 after purchasing an additional 17,644 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Liberty Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $368,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Liberty Energy news, CFO Michael Stock sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.01, for a total transaction of $300,150.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 750,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,011,642.07. This represents a 1.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 2,037 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.15, for a total transaction of $36,971.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,578,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,805,455.95. This trade represents a 0.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 99,037 shares of company stock valued at $1,911,802. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on LBRT. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup downgraded Liberty Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $25.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 18th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.89.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

NYSE:LBRT opened at $18.99 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.13 and a beta of 1.70. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.53. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.57 and a 1 year high of $24.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.10). Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 18.50% and a net margin of 8.02%. The company had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This is a boost from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.24%.

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.