Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) shares gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $16.90, but opened at $17.68. Liberty Energy shares last traded at $17.37, with a volume of 3,475,221 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LBRT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Liberty Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup lowered Liberty Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $25.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Atb Cap Markets cut shares of Liberty Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Liberty Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.89.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $2.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.53 and a beta of 1.70. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.63. 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 (NYSE:LBRT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $1.14 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.85 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 1.82%. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Michael Stock sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.01, for a total transaction of $105,050.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 745,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,656,799.07. The trade was a 0.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 2,037 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.15, for a total transaction of $36,971.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,578,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,805,455.95. This trade represents a 0.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 99,037 shares of company stock worth $1,911,802 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liberty Energy

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new position in Liberty Energy during the second quarter valued at $32,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in Liberty Energy by 96.8% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 838 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Liberty Energy by 69.2% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 713 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its stake in Liberty Energy by 237.5% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,401 shares in the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 45.0% during the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.