Principal Financial Group Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 4.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 872,215 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 37,927 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.52% of Liberty Energy worth $16,651,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of LBRT. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Liberty Energy in the second quarter valued at $32,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 69.2% in 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 during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 900 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 2,016 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC raised its position in Liberty Energy by 43.3% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 6,213 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,000 after acquiring an additional 1,876 shares in the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Michael Stock sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.01, for a total value of $300,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 750,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,011,642.07. This trade represents a 1.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 2,037 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.15, for a total value of $36,971.55. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,578,813 shares in the company, valued at $46,805,455.95. This trade represents a 0.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 99,037 shares of company stock worth $1,911,802 over the last three months. Insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on LBRT. Citigroup lowered Liberty Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $25.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Wells Fargo & Company cut 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. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Liberty Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Five research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.89.

Liberty Energy Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of Liberty Energy stock opened at $16.91 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Liberty Energy Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.57 and a twelve month high of $24.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.76 billion, a PE ratio of 8.05 and a beta of 1.70. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $18.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.64.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.10). Liberty Energy had a net margin of 8.02% and a return on equity of 18.50%. The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This is a boost from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is 13.33%.

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.