Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) Stock Price Down 3.9% After Insider Selling

Shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) dropped 3.9% during trading on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $17.60 and last traded at $17.61. Approximately 220,756 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 91% from the average daily volume of 2,507,362 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.33.

Specifically, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 16,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.23, for a total transaction of $291,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,562,813 shares in the company, valued at $46,720,080.99. This trade represents a 0.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael Stock sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.49, for a total value of $184,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 705,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,039,277.43. This trade represents a 1.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LBRT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. 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. Atb Cap Markets lowered Liberty Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup lowered Liberty Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $25.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Five 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.89.

Liberty Energy Trading Down 5.9 %

The company has a market cap of $2.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.21 and a beta of 1.71. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $18.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.85 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. This is a positive change from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is currently 13.33%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new position in Liberty Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in Liberty Energy by 96.8% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 838 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Liberty Energy by 69.2% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 713 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its stake in Liberty Energy by 237.5% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,401 shares in the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC raised its stake in Liberty Energy by 45.0% during the 2nd 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. 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.