Bridgewater Associates LP Grows Position in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Bridgewater Associates LP raised its holdings in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 285.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 700,814 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 518,830 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in Liberty Energy were worth $13,379,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in Liberty Energy by 96.8% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 838 shares in the last quarter. 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 valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 713 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 45.0% in the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 93.2% in the third 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 own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LBRT. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 18th. Atb Cap Markets lowered Liberty Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Liberty Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.89.

Insider Buying and Selling at Liberty Energy

In other news, CFO Michael Stock sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.01, for a total value of $300,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 750,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,011,642.07. The trade was a 1.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.91, for a total value of $398,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,678,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,335,166.83. The trade was a 0.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 99,037 shares of company stock worth $1,911,802 over the last three months. Company insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

Shares of Liberty Energy stock opened at $18.44 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.01 billion, a PE ratio of 8.78 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 12 month low of $16.57 and a 12 month high of $24.75. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $18.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.42.

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

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This is an increase from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.74%. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is currently 15.24%.

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.