Royal Bank Of Canada Issues Positive Forecast for Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) Stock Price

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) had its price objective lifted by Royal Bank Of Canada from $13.00 to $15.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a sector perform rating on the stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Liberty Energy from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Liberty Energy from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen cut Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Liberty Energy in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $12.00 price target (down previously from $14.00) on shares of Liberty Energy in a report on Monday, October 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $14.75.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LBRT opened at $15.91 on Monday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.88. The firm has a market cap of $2.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.20 and a beta of 0.74. Liberty Energy has a fifty-two week low of $9.50 and a fifty-two week high of $23.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.32.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 16th. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $947.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $967.05 million. Liberty Energy had a net margin of 4.76% and a return on equity of 1.69%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Liberty Energy will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 4th will be given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 4th. This is an increase from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 28.57%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liberty Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LBRT. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Liberty Energy in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S acquired a new stake in Liberty Energy during the first quarter worth about $50,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Liberty Energy by 213.7% in the second quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 3,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 2,457 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in Liberty Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Liberty Energy by 281.1% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 3,193 shares during the period. 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.