Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $17.14.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on LBRT. Citigroup decreased their price target on Liberty Energy from $16.00 to $13.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Liberty Energy from $16.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $11.00 price target (down from $20.00) on shares of Liberty Energy in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Liberty Energy in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered Liberty Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $24.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Monday, March 24th.

Liberty Energy Trading Up 6.2%

Liberty Energy stock opened at $12.56 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.03 billion, a PE ratio of 6.72 and a beta of 0.71. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $12.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.13. Liberty Energy has a 52 week low of $9.50 and a 52 week high of $24.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by $0.01. Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 14.28% and a net margin of 7.32%. The firm had revenue of $977.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $960.64 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.48 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Liberty Energy will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.19%.

Institutional Trading of Liberty Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LBRT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Liberty Energy by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,443,909 shares of the company’s stock worth $291,967,000 after purchasing an additional 1,128,491 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Liberty Energy by 6.4% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,508,609 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,201,000 after acquiring an additional 330,520 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Liberty Energy by 83.5% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,828,712 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,043,000 after acquiring an additional 2,197,352 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Liberty Energy by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,507,658 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,696,000 after acquiring an additional 73,792 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 13.5% in the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,438,018 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,593,000 after purchasing an additional 290,320 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

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.