Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” by Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Thursday morning, Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on LBRT. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Citigroup cut Liberty Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $25.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Friday. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.70.

Liberty Energy Trading Down 3.3 %

Shares of Liberty Energy stock opened at $17.70 on Thursday. Liberty Energy has a twelve month low of $16.69 and a twelve month high of $24.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $20.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.31. The firm has a market cap of $2.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.46, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.68.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.10). Liberty Energy had a net margin of 9.53% and a return on equity of 22.85%. The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Liberty Energy will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This is a positive change 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 1.81%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Liberty Energy

In other news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.91, for a total transaction of $398,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,678,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,335,166.83. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.91, for a total transaction of $398,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,678,813 shares in the company, valued at $53,335,166.83. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael Stock sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.23, for a total value of $288,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 730,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,041,880.61. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 95,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,945,650 in the last quarter. 3.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Liberty Energy

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new position in Liberty Energy during the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 69.2% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 713 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 709 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 45.0% during 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. Finally, CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 43.3% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 6,213 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,000 after purchasing an additional 1,876 shares during the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.