Van ECK Associates Corp Purchases 156,006 Shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 8.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,082,239 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 156,006 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned about 1.27% of Liberty Energy worth $41,416,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of LBRT. Creative Planning grew its position in Liberty Energy by 28.6% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 18,753 shares of the company’s stock worth $392,000 after acquiring an additional 4,169 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 52,948 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,106,000 after buying an additional 3,132 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 82.1% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,174 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 1,431 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 56.5% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 9,722 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,000 after buying an additional 3,509 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 2,958.1% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 53,242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,016,000 after buying an additional 51,501 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LBRT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Liberty Energy from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Evercore ISI upgraded Liberty Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Liberty Energy in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $19.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Liberty Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.30.

Liberty Energy Stock Up 2.3 %

LBRT stock opened at $17.54 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.51. Liberty Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.57 and a fifty-two week high of $24.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.27. The company has a market cap of $2.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.38 and a beta of 1.63.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by ($0.06). Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 14.28% and a net margin of 7.32%. On average, research analysts expect that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.11%.

Insider Transactions at Liberty Energy

In other news, CFO Michael Stock sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.49, for a total value of $184,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 705,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,039,277.43. This represents a 1.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 2,936 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.16, for a total value of $56,253.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,543,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,740,683.32. This trade represents a 0.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 68,936 shares of company stock valued at $1,341,184 over the last ninety days. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.