Intech Investment Management LLC Makes New Investment in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 47,355 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $904,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new position in Liberty Energy during the second quarter worth about $32,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in Liberty Energy by 96.8% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 838 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 713 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 worth $61,000 after buying an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 93.2% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,180 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 2,016 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on LBRT. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Liberty Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup lowered shares of Liberty Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $25.00 to $19.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Atb Cap Markets lowered shares of Liberty Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.89.

Insider Transactions at Liberty Energy

In other news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.77, for a total transaction of $395,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,638,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,169,333.01. This trade represents a 0.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael Stock sold 15,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.01, for a total transaction of $300,150.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 750,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,011,642.07. This represents a 1.96 % 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 valued at $1,911,802 over the last three months. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

Shares of LBRT stock opened at $18.44 on Friday. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.57 and a 52-week high of $24.75. The stock has a market cap of $3.01 billion, a PE ratio of 8.78 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.23. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $18.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.42.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last announced 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 business had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.85 earnings per share. Liberty Energy’s revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.74%. This is a boost from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.24%.

Liberty Energy 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.