Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Trims Stock Position in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. cut its position in shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 24.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 34,654 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,259 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Liberty Energy were worth $629,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,546,529 shares of the company’s stock valued at $380,522,000 after acquiring an additional 893,563 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 93.9% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,587,073 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,210,000 after acquiring an additional 2,221,588 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 53.1% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,244,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,568,000 after acquiring an additional 778,111 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 12.4% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,241,076 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,505,000 after acquiring an additional 247,074 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,116,651 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,200,000 after acquiring an additional 263,823 shares during the period. 98.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on LBRT. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $24.00 target price on shares of Liberty Energy in a report on Monday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.30.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Ryan T. Gosney sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total value of $123,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 140,706 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,884,473. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director William F. Kimble sold 12,459 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.55, for a total value of $268,491.45. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 69,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,507,702.65. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ryan T. Gosney sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total transaction of $123,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 140,706 shares in the company, valued at $2,884,473. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 98,459 shares of company stock worth $2,077,491 in the last 90 days. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Liberty Energy Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of Liberty Energy stock opened at $23.01 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.35, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.48. Liberty Energy Inc. has a one year low of $11.62 and a one year high of $23.31. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $21.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $19.81.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.08 billion. Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 26.46% and a net margin of 10.43%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 6th will be issued a $0.07 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 5th. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.22%. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.22%.

About Liberty Energy

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.