Islay Capital Management LLC Acquires Shares of 42,744 Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Islay Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 42,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $850,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of LBRT. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Liberty Energy by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,662,830 shares of the company’s stock worth $127,193,000 after acquiring an additional 176,887 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,178,089 shares of the company’s stock worth $102,992,000 after purchasing an additional 505,634 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 83.5% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,828,712 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,043,000 after purchasing an additional 2,197,352 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Liberty Energy by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,779,906 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,173,000 after buying an additional 207,527 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Liberty Energy by 61.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,146,179 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,061,000 after buying an additional 1,193,918 shares during the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LBRT has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded Liberty Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $24.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Atb Cap Markets upgraded Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Liberty Energy in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $19.00 price target on the stock. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.90.

Liberty Energy Stock Down 16.3 %

LBRT stock opened at $10.98 on Friday. Liberty Energy Inc. has a one year low of $10.91 and a one year high of $24.75. The firm has a market cap of $1.78 billion, a PE ratio of 5.87 and a beta of 1.18. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $16.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.27.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.10 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 14.28%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.58 EPS for the current year.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 6th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.11%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Michael Stock sold 10,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.94, for a total value of $179,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 717,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,868,218.48. The trade was a 1.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.90% 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.