Thornburg Investment Management Inc. Takes Position in Liberty Energy Inc. $LBRT

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 76,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $882,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Liberty Energy by 6.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,443,909 shares of the company’s stock valued at $291,967,000 after acquiring an additional 1,128,491 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 10.6% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,093,383 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,952,000 after purchasing an additional 584,774 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy in the 1st quarter worth approximately $7,743,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Liberty Energy by 20.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,161,558 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,815,000 after purchasing an additional 365,506 shares during the period. Finally, Callodine Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Liberty Energy during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $5,517,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

LBRT opened at $17.75 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $14.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $12.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company has a market capitalization of $2.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.84 and a beta of 0.72. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 1-year low of $9.50 and a 1-year high of $23.58.

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

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 4th will be given a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. This is a boost from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 4th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LBRT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays raised their target price on Liberty Energy from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $11.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Citigroup upgraded shares of Liberty Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $12.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 19th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Liberty Energy from $15.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Liberty Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.80.

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.