Victory Capital Management Inc. Increases Stock Position in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 5.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 29,990 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,532 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Liberty Energy were worth $401,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LBRT. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 24.7% in the first quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 13,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $194,000 after purchasing an additional 2,637 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 129.4% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,089,808 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,178,716 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 17.4% in the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 17,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $261,000 after purchasing an additional 2,607 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 775.0% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 219,897 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,259,000 after purchasing an additional 194,767 shares during the period. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 106.8% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 49,221 shares of the company’s stock valued at $729,000 after purchasing an additional 25,424 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on LBRT shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $21.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 20th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $28.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 12th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $21.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 20th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.75.

Liberty Energy Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:LBRT opened at $20.23 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 2.04. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 1-year low of $11.18 and a 1-year high of $21.25. The company’s fifty day moving average is $18.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.34.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 19th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.10. Liberty Energy had a net margin of 12.59% and a return on equity of 37.67%. The business had revenue of $1.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 3.21 EPS for the current year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 6th will be issued a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 5th. This is a boost from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Michael Stock sold 63,010 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.51, for a total value of $1,040,295.10. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 796,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,149,455.54. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Liberty Energy news, Director Ken Babcock sold 58,823 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.93, for a total transaction of $1,054,696.39. Following the transaction, the director now owns 73,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,311,274.69. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Michael Stock sold 63,010 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.51, for a total transaction of $1,040,295.10. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 796,454 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,149,455.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 314,612 shares of company stock valued at $5,711,894 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Energy 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, data analytics, related goods, and technologies; and other services comprising design and pump diagnostic fracture injection test, DFIT and mini-frac analysis, and laboratory services, such as fluid rheology, surfactant, clay control, scaling and biocide testing.