Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) Shares Gap Up on Analyst Upgrade

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday after The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on the stock from $11.00 to $18.00. The stock had previously closed at $15.86, but opened at $16.49. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Liberty Energy shares last traded at $16.07, with a volume of 1,314,837 shares.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on LBRT. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Liberty Energy in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup raised shares of Liberty Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $12.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.10.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liberty Energy

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of LBRT. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in Liberty Energy in the first quarter worth $761,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Liberty Energy during the first quarter valued at about $1,110,000. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 4.8% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 607,431 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,615,000 after buying an additional 27,649 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 15.5% during the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 98,131 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,553,000 after buying an additional 13,185 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 6.1% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,054,615 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,566,000 after buying an additional 118,878 shares during the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.21 and a beta of 0.74. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $11.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $947.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $967.05 million. Liberty Energy had a net margin of 4.76% and a return on equity of 1.69%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.45 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.58 EPS for the current year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. 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 dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 4th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 28.57%.

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.