Stifel Nicolaus Cuts Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) Price Target to $23.00

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) had its price target decreased by Stifel Nicolaus from $25.00 to $23.00 in a report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Liberty Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $25.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Liberty Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Atb Cap Markets raised shares of Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.20.

Liberty Energy Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of LBRT opened at $21.34 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.65. The company has a market cap of $3.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.16 and a beta of 1.66. 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 has a twelve month low of $16.57 and a twelve month high of $24.75.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 18.50% and a net margin of 8.02%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Liberty Energy will post 1.72 EPS for the current year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. This is a positive change from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Liberty Energy

In other news, CFO Michael Stock sold 5,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.45, for a total transaction of $92,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 720,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,287,819.15. The trade was a 0.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.44, for a total transaction of $209,280.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,606,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,462,818.72. This represents a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 77,973 shares of company stock valued at $1,471,335. 3.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Liberty Energy

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Gallacher Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 34.6% during the 2nd quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC now owns 13,377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $279,000 after buying an additional 3,442 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy in the second quarter valued at about $523,000. LSV Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 19.5% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,717,591 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,880,000 after purchasing an additional 280,550 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 479.4% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 23,482 shares of the company’s stock worth $491,000 after purchasing an additional 19,429 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Choreo LLC acquired a new position in shares of Liberty Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $481,000. 98.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.