Kennedy Capital Management LLC Has $6.43 Million Holdings in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Kennedy Capital Management LLC trimmed its stake in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 10.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 323,142 shares of the company’s stock after selling 37,438 shares during the period. Kennedy Capital Management LLC owned about 0.20% of Liberty Energy worth $6,427,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 61.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,146,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,061,000 after buying an additional 1,193,918 shares during the period. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Liberty Energy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $498,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 897,040 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,842,000 after acquiring an additional 24,825 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,792,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,631,360 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,706,000 after purchasing an additional 61,909 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley raised Liberty Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $20.00 to $25.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada lowered shares of Liberty Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $24.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $11.00 price objective (down from $20.00) on shares of Liberty Energy in a report on Tuesday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $19.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Michael Stock sold 10,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.94, for a total value of $179,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 717,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,868,218.48. This trade represents a 1.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Energy Stock Up 2.0 %

NYSE LBRT opened at $10.92 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $15.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.90. Liberty Energy Inc. has a one year low of $9.50 and a one year high of $24.75. The firm has a market cap of $1.77 billion, a PE ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.16 by ($0.06). Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 14.28% and a net margin of 7.32%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is presently 17.11%.

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.