Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) Shares Down 13.7% – What’s Next?

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) shares fell 13.7% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $11.73 and last traded at $11.32. 239,186 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 91% from the average session volume of 2,629,584 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.12.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on LBRT. Atb Cap Markets upgraded shares of Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Liberty Energy from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada cut Liberty Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $19.00 in a report on Monday, March 24th. Wells Fargo & Company cut 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. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.90.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $16.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.79 billion, a PE ratio of 5.99 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by ($0.06). Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 14.28% and a net margin of 7.32%. Research analysts expect that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.58 EPS for the current year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors 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 yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is currently 17.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Liberty Energy news, CFO Michael Stock sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.94, for a total transaction of $179,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 717,292 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,868,218.48. The trade was a 1.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Liberty Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in Liberty Energy by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 82,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,635,000 after buying an additional 708 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. increased its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 11,263 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,000 after buying an additional 733 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC grew its stake in Liberty Energy by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 54,149 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,077,000 after acquiring an additional 1,185 shares during the period. Quarry LP raised its position in Liberty Energy by 237.5% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,991 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,401 shares during the period. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 29,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $591,000 after purchasing an additional 1,423 shares in the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.