Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) Hits New 52-Week Low – What’s Next?

Shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) hit a new 52-week low on Friday . The stock traded as low as $16.64 and last traded at $16.72, with a volume of 997008 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $17.07.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on LBRT shares. Barclays dropped their target price on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup cut Liberty Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $25.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America lowered their price target on Liberty Energy from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Atb Cap Markets cut Liberty Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 18th. Five 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, Liberty Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.89.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The company has a market cap of $2.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.07, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.68.

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

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This is a positive change from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.33%.

Insider Transactions at Liberty Energy

In other Liberty Energy news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.77, for a total transaction of $395,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,638,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,169,333.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Liberty Energy news, CFO Michael Stock sold 15,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.01, for a total transaction of $300,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 750,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,011,642.07. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.77, for a total value of $395,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,638,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,169,333.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 75,000 shares of company stock worth $1,487,250 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Liberty Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LBRT. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy during the second quarter worth about $32,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 69.2% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 713 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 27.7% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,273 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 709 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC increased its position in Liberty Energy by 45.0% in the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its position in Liberty Energy by 93.2% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,180 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 2,016 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

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.