Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) Upgraded at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report published on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $25.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $20.00.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Atb Cap Markets raised Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Liberty Energy in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $19.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of Liberty Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $24.00 to $19.00 in a report on Monday, March 24th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price on Liberty Energy from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.90.

Liberty Energy Stock Down 2.7 %

LBRT stock opened at $15.78 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $17.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.48. Liberty Energy has a 52 week low of $13.86 and a 52 week high of $24.75. The company has a market cap of $2.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.44 and a beta of 1.58.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.03%. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Liberty Energy news, CFO Michael Stock sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.82, for a total transaction of $416,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 680,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,161,909.74. This trade represents a 2.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 40,000 shares of company stock valued at $808,350. Insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Liberty Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in Liberty Energy by 17.8% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 24,662 shares of the company’s stock worth $471,000 after purchasing an additional 3,733 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy in the third quarter valued at about $904,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,237,247 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,709,000 after buying an additional 166,443 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in Liberty Energy by 95.5% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 224,165 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,279,000 after acquiring an additional 109,489 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in Liberty Energy by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,666,741 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,818,000 after acquiring an additional 167,820 shares during the period. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.