HighTower Advisors LLC Boosts Position in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 70.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 25,115 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,362 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Liberty Energy were worth $475,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 96.8% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 838 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC boosted its stake in Liberty Energy by 45.0% in the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 82.1% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 1,431 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 93.2% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,180 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 2,016 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 24.8% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,906 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,000 after purchasing an additional 974 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Michael Stock sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.23, for a total transaction of $288,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 730,207 shares in the company, valued at $14,041,880.61. The trade was a 2.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.77, for a total value of $395,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,638,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,169,333.01. This represents a 0.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 87,973 shares of company stock valued at $1,641,235 over the last quarter. Insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Energy Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE LBRT opened at $18.17 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.65 and a beta of 1.71. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $18.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.84. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $16.57 and a 12 month high of $24.75.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 18.50% and a net margin of 8.02%. The company’s revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This is a positive change from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LBRT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Atb Cap Markets raised Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Liberty Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $25.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Liberty Energy in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $19.00 target price for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Liberty Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.50.

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.