Short Interest in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) Rises By 15.9%

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 20,150,000 shares, an increase of 15.9% from the July 31st total of 17,380,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,260,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 8.9 days. Approximately 12.6% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insider Activity at Liberty Energy

In other Liberty Energy news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.26, for a total transaction of $405,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,758,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,893,551.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.26, for a total value of $405,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,758,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,893,551.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael Stock sold 15,626 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.82, for a total value of $325,333.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 789,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,439,076.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 60,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,280,831 over the last ninety days. 3.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Liberty Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LBRT. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in Liberty Energy during the 1st quarter worth $27,809,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $21,278,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $13,877,000. LSV Asset Management boosted its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 522.2% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 897,180 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,275,000 after purchasing an additional 752,980 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Liberty Energy by 17.6% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,961,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,754,000 after buying an additional 594,051 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on LBRT shares. Bank of America cut their price objective on Liberty Energy from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 15th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Liberty Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 15th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Liberty Energy from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.78.

Liberty Energy Stock Down 0.7 %

Liberty Energy stock traded down $0.14 during trading on Monday, reaching $20.59. The stock had a trading volume of 1,139,200 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,553,788. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Liberty Energy has a 52-week low of $15.64 and a 52-week high of $24.75. The stock has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a PE ratio of 7.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.74. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $20.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.59.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 22.85% and a net margin of 9.53%. Liberty Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.87 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Liberty Energy will post 2.17 EPS for the current year.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.22%.

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.