Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) Price Target Raised to $27.00

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) had its price objective raised by Royal Bank of Canada from $25.00 to $27.00 in a research note published on Friday, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on LBRT. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Piper Sandler raised 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. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $24.30.

Liberty Energy Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE LBRT opened at $22.37 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.68. The firm has a market cap of $3.73 billion, a PE ratio of 8.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.85. Liberty Energy has a 1 year low of $11.62 and a 1 year high of $23.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.17.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.06). Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 26.46% and a net margin of 10.43%. The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.08 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Liberty Energy will post 2.61 EPS for the current year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 6th will be given a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 5th. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is currently 10.22%.

Insider Activity at Liberty Energy

In related news, Director William F. Kimble sold 12,459 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.55, for a total value of $268,491.45. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 69,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,507,702.65. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Ryan T. Gosney sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total value of $123,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 140,706 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,884,473. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director William F. Kimble sold 12,459 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 69,963 shares in the company, valued at $1,507,702.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 98,459 shares of company stock valued at $2,077,491. 3.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LBRT. Macquarie Group Ltd. grew its holdings in Liberty Energy by 181.5% during the 1st quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 8,085,410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,574,000 after buying an additional 5,213,132 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in Liberty Energy by 38.1% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 13,136,514 shares of the company’s stock valued at $166,571,000 after buying an additional 3,621,253 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Liberty Energy by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,972,147 shares of the company’s stock valued at $215,207,000 after buying an additional 2,831,183 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Liberty Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,326,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Liberty Energy by 47.3% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,528,916 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,444,000 after buying an additional 2,417,129 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Energy Company Profile

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.