Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) Short Interest Update

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 12,430,000 shares, a decline of 16.5% from the February 13th total of 14,890,000 shares. Approximately 8.0% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 3,240,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.8 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Michael Stock sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.94, for a total value of $179,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 717,292 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,868,218.48. This represents a 1.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 40,000 shares of company stock valued at $808,350. Insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liberty Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP raised its position in Liberty Energy by 237.5% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,401 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 604.9% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,460 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 2,111 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 257.8% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,197 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 1,583 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Liberty Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Liberty Energy by 176.3% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 3,423 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 2,184 shares during the period. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LBRT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen cut their price target on Liberty Energy from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Liberty Energy from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup raised their target price on Liberty Energy from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.30.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LBRT traded up $0.04 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $14.59. The stock had a trading volume of 684,633 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,511,856. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.80. The company has a market capitalization of $2.36 billion, a PE ratio of 7.80 and a beta of 1.58. Liberty Energy has a 1 year low of $13.86 and a 1 year high of $24.75.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 7.32% and a return on equity of 14.28%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Liberty Energy will post 0.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.11%.

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.