Bailard Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Bailard Inc. lowered its position in shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 38.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,400 shares of the company’s stock after selling 15,500 shares during the quarter. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Liberty Energy were worth $443,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LBRT. CWM LLC lifted its position in Liberty Energy by 59.7% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 1,183 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new position in shares of Liberty Energy during the third quarter valued at approximately $97,000. Spirit of America Management Corp NY purchased a new position in shares of Liberty Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $127,000. Xponance Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $182,000. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $190,000. Institutional investors own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LBRT. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Bank of America raised their price target on Liberty Energy from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.30.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Liberty Energy news, CAO Ryan T. Gosney sold 6,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 140,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,884,473. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Ryan T. Gosney sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total transaction of $123,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 140,706 shares in the company, valued at $2,884,473. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider R Sean Elliott sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total transaction of $410,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 218,530 shares in the company, valued at $4,479,865. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 98,459 shares of company stock valued at $2,077,491 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LBRT opened at $23.01 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $21.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.88. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 52-week low of $11.62 and a 52-week high of $23.31. The company has a market cap of $3.84 billion, a PE ratio of 8.40, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last issued its 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 company had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.08 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 2.53 EPS for the current year.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 6th will be paid a $0.07 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 5th. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.22%. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.22%.

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.