Zacks Research Research Analysts Lower Earnings Estimates for Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) – Analysts at Zacks Research reduced their Q2 2024 earnings per share estimates for shares of Liberty Energy in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, April 25th. Zacks Research analyst T. Saha now expects that the company will earn $0.64 per share for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $0.67. The consensus estimate for Liberty Energy’s current full-year earnings is $2.54 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Liberty Energy’s Q4 2024 earnings at $0.66 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $2.54 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $0.78 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $0.75 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $2.99 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $3.26 EPS.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.08 billion. Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 26.46% and a net margin of 10.43%. Liberty Energy’s quarterly revenue was down 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share.

LBRT has been the topic of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Liberty Energy from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Barclays increased their target price on Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Bank of America increased their target price on Liberty Energy from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on Liberty Energy from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Liberty Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.30.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

Liberty Energy stock opened at $23.02 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.40, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.85. Liberty Energy has a 52-week low of $11.62 and a 52-week high of $23.31. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $21.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.48.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liberty Energy

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Liberty Energy by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,546,529 shares of the company’s stock worth $380,522,000 after acquiring an additional 893,563 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Liberty Energy by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,443,849 shares of the company’s stock worth $171,314,000 after acquiring an additional 404,211 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Liberty Energy by 93.9% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,587,073 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,210,000 after acquiring an additional 2,221,588 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Liberty Energy by 53.1% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,244,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,568,000 after acquiring an additional 778,111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Liberty Energy by 12.4% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,241,076 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,505,000 after acquiring an additional 247,074 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Liberty Energy

In other Liberty Energy news, CAO Ryan T. Gosney sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total transaction of $123,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 140,706 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,884,473. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.27, for a total transaction of $405,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,830,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $57,372,248.54. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Ryan T. Gosney sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total value of $123,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 140,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,884,473. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 98,459 shares of company stock worth $2,077,491. Corporate insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.07 per share. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 5th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.22%.

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.