Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) Sets New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Bank of America upgraded the stock from a neutral rating to a buy rating. Bank of America now has a $31.00 price target on the stock. Liberty Energy traded as high as $27.70 and last traded at $27.5910, with a volume of 491986 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $26.68.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on LBRT. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Liberty Energy in a research note on Monday, December 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $26.00 price target on shares of Liberty Energy in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Liberty Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $17.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of Liberty Energy in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Liberty Energy from $17.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Liberty Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Michael Stock sold 25,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.38, for a total value of $634,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 784,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,918,706.22. The trade was a 3.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider R Sean Elliott sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.40, for a total transaction of $635,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 343,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,716,010. This represents a 6.79% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liberty Energy

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LBRT. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 23,760 shares of the company’s stock worth $439,000 after buying an additional 477 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Liberty Energy by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 22,583 shares of the company’s stock worth $417,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Corp grew its holdings in Liberty Energy by 58.2% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 1,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 596 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its holdings in Liberty Energy by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 37,085 shares of the company’s stock worth $685,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its stake in Liberty Energy by 39.9% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,140 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 610 shares in the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Liberty Energy Stock Up 3.2%

The stock has a market cap of $4.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.93 and a beta of 0.49. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $21.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.16) by $0.21. Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 1.24% and a net margin of 3.69%.The company had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $880.59 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be given a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 4th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.45%.

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. As of as of December 31, 2023, the company owned and operated a fleet of approximately 40 active hydraulic fracturing; and two sand mines in the Permian Basin.