Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $16.80.

LBRT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $15.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $11.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Piper Sandler set a $16.00 price target on Liberty Energy and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Liberty Energy in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th.

Liberty Energy Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE:LBRT opened at $17.78 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $15.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $12.97. The company has a market capitalization of $2.88 billion, a PE ratio of 15.88 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Liberty Energy has a 52-week low of $9.50 and a 52-week high of $23.58.

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

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 4th will be given a $0.09 dividend. This is a positive change from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 4th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is 32.14%.

Institutional Trading of Liberty Energy

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Liberty Energy by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,443,909 shares of the company’s stock valued at $291,967,000 after purchasing an additional 1,128,491 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 78.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,575,840 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,826,000 after buying an additional 3,771,724 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 28.2% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 7,809,390 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,368,000 after buying an additional 1,716,007 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 21.7% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,967,041 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,062,000 after buying an additional 529,023 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Liberty Energy by 1,529.2% during the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,753,357 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,976,000 after acquiring an additional 2,584,359 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.22% 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.