Citigroup Inc. Grows Stock Position in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 95.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 224,165 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 109,489 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc.’s holdings in Liberty Energy were worth $4,279,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy in the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 96.8% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 838 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 69.2% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 713 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC raised its stake in Liberty Energy by 45.0% in the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its stake in Liberty Energy by 93.2% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,180 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 2,016 shares during the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Liberty Energy Stock Up 0.1 %

LBRT opened at $18.58 on Wednesday. Liberty Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.57 and a fifty-two week high of $24.75. The business has a 50-day moving average of $18.50 and a 200-day moving average of $20.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The company has a market capitalization of $3.04 billion, a PE ratio of 8.85 and a beta of 1.71.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last posted 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). Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 18.50% and a net margin of 8.02%. The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This is an increase 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 1.72%. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.33%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on LBRT. Citigroup downgraded shares of Liberty Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $25.00 to $19.00 in a research note 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 research report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays reduced their target price 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. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Atb Cap Markets lowered Liberty Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.89.

Insider Activity at Liberty Energy

In related news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,678,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,335,166.83. This trade represents a 0.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Michael Stock sold 15,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.23, for a total value of $288,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 730,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,041,880.61. This represents a 2.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 94,037 shares of company stock valued at $1,796,552. Corporate insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

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.