Royal Bank of Canada Cuts Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) Price Target to $24.00

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) had its price objective trimmed by Royal Bank of Canada from $26.00 to $24.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other research firms also recently commented on LBRT. Atb Cap Markets raised Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Liberty Energy from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Citigroup increased their price target on Liberty Energy from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Liberty Energy in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $19.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Liberty Energy from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.30.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

LBRT opened at $18.30 on Friday. Liberty Energy has a 52-week low of $16.57 and a 52-week high of $24.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.99 billion, a PE ratio of 9.79 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.23. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $19.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.74.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.16 by ($0.06). Liberty Energy had a net margin of 7.32% and a return on equity of 14.37%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Liberty Energy will post 0.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is currently 17.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.44, for a total value of $209,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,606,813 shares in the company, valued at $45,462,818.72. This trade represents a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Michael Stock sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.49, for a total value of $184,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 705,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,039,277.43. This represents a 1.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 77,973 shares of company stock worth $1,500,285. Company insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liberty Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in Liberty Energy by 369.9% during the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 234,904 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,672,000 after purchasing an additional 184,918 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Liberty Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $200,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 33,216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $637,000 after acquiring an additional 2,139 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 897,040 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,842,000 after acquiring an additional 24,825 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 27.4% during the fourth quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 120,989 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,406,000 after acquiring an additional 26,036 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

About Liberty Energy

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.