Baird Financial Group Inc. Acquires Shares of 18,202 Liberty Energy Inc. $LBRT

Baird Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 18,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $288,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 6.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,443,909 shares of the company’s stock worth $291,967,000 after buying an additional 1,128,491 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 6.4% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,508,609 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,201,000 after buying an additional 330,520 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 3.0% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,507,658 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,696,000 after buying an additional 73,792 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 13.5% in the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,438,018 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,593,000 after buying an additional 290,320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 1.8% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,105,514 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,330,000 after buying an additional 38,123 shares in the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on LBRT shares. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Liberty Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $16.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Liberty Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $15.05.

Liberty Energy Trading Up 1.8%

NYSE LBRT opened at $11.09 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 52 week low of $9.50 and a 52 week high of $23.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.80 billion, a PE ratio of 8.53 and a beta of 0.63. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $11.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $12.46.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.14 by ($0.02). Liberty Energy had a net margin of 5.29% and a return on equity of 6.01%. The company had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.64 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.62%.

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.