Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) Sets New 52-Week High at $23.31

Shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $23.31 and last traded at $22.62, with a volume of 558445 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $21.52.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on LBRT shares. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Liberty Energy from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Liberty Energy from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Liberty Energy from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Liberty Energy from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.30.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $3.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.85. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $21.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $19.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. Liberty Energy had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 26.90%. Liberty Energy’s quarterly revenue was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 6th will be paid a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 5th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 10.22%.

Insider Activity at Liberty Energy

In related news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.27, for a total value of $405,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,830,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $57,372,248.54. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Liberty Energy news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.27, for a total value of $405,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,830,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $57,372,248.54. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Ryan T. Gosney sold 6,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total value of $123,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 140,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,884,473. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 98,459 shares of company stock valued at $2,077,491 in the last 90 days. 3.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liberty Energy

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LBRT. Macquarie Group Ltd. raised its position in Liberty Energy by 181.5% in the 1st quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 8,085,410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,574,000 after purchasing an additional 5,213,132 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 38.1% during the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 13,136,514 shares of the company’s stock worth $166,571,000 after acquiring an additional 3,621,253 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 20.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,972,147 shares of the company’s stock worth $215,207,000 after acquiring an additional 2,831,183 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy during the fourth quarter worth $36,326,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 47.3% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,528,916 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,444,000 after acquiring an additional 2,417,129 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

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.