Liberty Energy Inc. $LBRT Shares Purchased by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 23.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,876,443 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 355,576 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Liberty Energy were worth $23,155,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Liberty Energy by 213.7% in the 2nd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 3,607 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 2,457 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Liberty Energy by 460.2% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,832 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 4,791 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its position in Liberty Energy by 32.6% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 6,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 1,562 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 31.0% during the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 1,521 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LBRT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Liberty Energy in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Bank of America raised shares of Liberty Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $31.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Liberty Energy from $23.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Barclays boosted their price target on Liberty Energy from $17.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Liberty Energy in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.08.

Insider Activity at Liberty Energy

In related news, insider R Sean Elliott sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.40, for a total transaction of $635,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 343,150 shares in the company, valued at $8,716,010. This trade represents a 6.79% 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, Director Arjun N. Murti acquired 9,696 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $25.79 per share, with a total value of $250,059.84. Following the acquisition, the director owned 27,568 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $710,978.72. This trade represents a 54.25% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

Shares of LBRT stock opened at $28.05 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.51 and a beta of 0.48. Liberty Energy Inc. has a one year low of $9.50 and a one year high of $28.65. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.22.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The company reported $0.05 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $880.59 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.10 earnings per share. Liberty Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be given a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend 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 currently 40.45%.

Liberty Energy 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. 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.