Legato Capital Management LLC Takes $842,000 Position in Liberty Energy Inc. $LBRT

Legato Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 45,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $842,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of LBRT. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in Liberty Energy by 4.5% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 94,205 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,491,000 after purchasing an additional 4,095 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 1,992.2% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 12,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $190,000 after acquiring an additional 11,455 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 0.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 868,978 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,756,000 after acquiring an additional 4,955 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 22.0% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 81,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,289,000 after acquiring an additional 14,663 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy during the second quarter worth approximately $119,000. Institutional investors own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Energy Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:LBRT opened at $31.82 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 2.21. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 52-week low of $9.90 and a 52-week high of $34.48. The company has a market capitalization of $5.19 billion, a PE ratio of 34.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.52 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a fifty day moving average of $30.52 and a 200-day moving average of $24.58.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.19. Liberty Energy had a net margin of 3.71% and a return on equity of 1.41%. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $954.71 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.04 earnings per share. Liberty Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 39.56%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on LBRT shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Liberty Energy from $28.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Liberty Energy from $21.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $32.00 price target on shares of Liberty Energy in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Liberty Energy in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Liberty Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $31.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Liberty Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Liberty Energy news, Chairman William F. Kimble sold 7,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.92, for a total transaction of $249,312.00. Following the sale, the chairman owned 89,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,046,185.60. This represents a 7.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael Stock sold 19,998 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.48, for a total transaction of $669,533.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 800,375 shares in the company, valued at $26,796,555. This trade represents a 2.44% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 2.00% 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. As of as of December 31, 2023, the company owned and operated a fleet of approximately 40 active hydraulic fracturing; and two sand mines in the Permian Basin.