Analysts Set Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) Target Price at $22.89

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $22.89.

LBRT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Atb Cap Markets lowered shares of Liberty Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup downgraded Liberty Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $25.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays cut their price objective on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, 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.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Liberty Energy news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.91, for a total value of $398,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,678,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,335,166.83. This trade represents a 0.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Michael Stock sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.01, for a total value of $105,050.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 745,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,656,799.07. This represents a 0.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 99,037 shares of company stock worth $1,911,802 over the last quarter. 3.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Liberty Energy

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 17.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,115,282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $345,821,000 after acquiring an additional 2,640,119 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 15.9% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,012,382 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,866,000 after buying an additional 963,068 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Liberty Energy by 2.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,662,830 shares of the company’s stock valued at $127,193,000 after buying an additional 176,887 shares in the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP grew its holdings in Liberty Energy by 20.4% during the third quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 4,124,695 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,408,000 after acquiring an additional 699,500 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Liberty Energy by 17.6% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,961,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,754,000 after acquiring an additional 594,051 shares during the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:LBRT opened at $17.57 on Friday. Liberty Energy has a 1-year low of $16.57 and a 1-year high of $24.75. The firm has a market cap of $2.87 billion, a PE ratio of 8.37 and a beta of 1.70. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.55. 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 data 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 net margin of 8.02% and a return on equity of 18.50%. The company had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.85 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Liberty Energy will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This is a positive change from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.82%. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is 13.33%.

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.