Short Interest in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) Decreases By 9.5%

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 17,870,000 shares, a decrease of 9.5% from the September 15th total of 19,740,000 shares. Currently, 11.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,040,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 8.8 days.

Liberty Energy Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of LBRT opened at $20.06 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.35. Liberty Energy has a 1 year low of $16.69 and a 1 year high of $24.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.34 billion, a PE ratio of 7.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.68. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.36.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last issued 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 9.53% and a return on equity of 22.85%. The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Liberty Energy will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This is a boost from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.22%.

Insider Activity

In other Liberty Energy news, CFO Michael Stock sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.92, for a total value of $458,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 765,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,538,544.44. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 95,000 shares of company stock worth $1,945,650 over the last three months. Insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liberty Energy

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Foundry Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 15.6% in the first quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 209,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,332,000 after purchasing an additional 28,153 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Liberty Energy by 114.2% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 174,265 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,611,000 after buying an additional 92,923 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised its position in Liberty Energy by 14.1% during the 1st quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 1,338,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,732,000 after buying an additional 165,400 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 60.2% during the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,437,041 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,775,000 after acquiring an additional 539,861 shares during the period. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new position in Liberty Energy during the first quarter worth about $690,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on LBRT. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America reduced their target price on Liberty Energy from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Liberty Energy from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $24.00.

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.