Hennessy Advisors Inc. Buys 165,400 Shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 14.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,338,400 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 165,400 shares during the quarter. Liberty Energy comprises about 1.2% of Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Liberty Energy were worth $27,732,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 4.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,546,529 shares of the company’s stock valued at $380,522,000 after purchasing an additional 893,563 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Liberty Energy by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,443,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $171,314,000 after acquiring an additional 404,211 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Liberty Energy by 93.9% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,587,073 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,210,000 after acquiring an additional 2,221,588 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Liberty Energy by 12.4% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,241,076 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,505,000 after acquiring an additional 247,074 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Liberty Energy by 4.6% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,100,267 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,897,000 after acquiring an additional 92,781 shares during the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Liberty Energy Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of LBRT stock traded up $0.39 on Friday, hitting $20.69. The stock had a trading volume of 1,912,430 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,711,649. Liberty Energy Inc. has a twelve month low of $13.11 and a twelve month high of $24.75. The firm has a market cap of $3.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.41, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $22.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.74.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 the consensus estimate of $1.08 billion. Liberty Energy had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 26.46%. The company’s revenue was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 2.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 6th were given a $0.07 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 6th. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.35%. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.22%.

Insider Activity at Liberty Energy

In related news, President Ron Gusek sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.99, for a total value of $1,149,500.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 1,213,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,892,824.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Liberty Energy news, CFO Michael Stock sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.87, for a total transaction of $417,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 806,056 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,822,388.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, President Ron Gusek sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.99, for a total transaction of $1,149,500.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 1,213,259 shares in the company, valued at $27,892,824.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 176,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,980,900. 3.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on LBRT. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $24.00 price objective on shares of Liberty Energy in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Citigroup raised shares of Liberty Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Liberty Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.50.

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.