Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the fourteen analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have given a hold recommendation, three have given a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $16.30.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on LBRT. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Liberty Energy from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Citigroup raised Liberty Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $12.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Liberty Energy from $11.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Liberty Energy from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Liberty Energy in a report on Wednesday.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy in the 1st quarter worth $761,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 52.9% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 47,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $757,000 after acquiring an additional 16,551 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy in the 1st quarter worth $360,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 912,636 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,447,000 after acquiring an additional 15,596 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 16.4% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 742,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,761,000 after acquiring an additional 104,943 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Energy Trading Up 2.5%

Liberty Energy stock opened at $17.44 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Liberty Energy has a 12 month low of $9.50 and a 12 month high of $23.58. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $12.39. The firm has a market cap of $2.82 billion, a PE ratio of 15.57 and a beta of 0.74.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 16th. The company reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by ($0.05). Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 1.69% and a net margin of 4.76%.The company had revenue of $947.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $967.05 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.45 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Liberty Energy will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 4th will be issued a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 4th. This is an increase from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is 32.14%.

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.