Nicholas Investment Partners LP Buys 103,965 Shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Nicholas Investment Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 116.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 193,015 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 103,965 shares during the quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP owned about 0.12% of Liberty Energy worth $4,032,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in LBRT. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC bought a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy during the 1st quarter worth about $27,809,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $21,278,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $13,877,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 17.6% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,961,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,754,000 after purchasing an additional 594,051 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management lifted its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 60.2% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,437,041 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,775,000 after purchasing an additional 539,861 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Michael Stock sold 15,626 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.82, for a total transaction of $325,333.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 789,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,439,076.42. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Michael Stock sold 15,626 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.82, for a total value of $325,333.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 789,581 shares in the company, valued at $16,439,076.42. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.26, for a total value of $405,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,758,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,893,551.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 75,000 shares of company stock worth $1,580,981. Corporate insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Energy Trading Up 0.2 %

Liberty Energy stock opened at $18.84 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $20.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.51. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 12 month low of $16.33 and a 12 month high of $24.75. The stock has a market cap of $3.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.69.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.01. Liberty Energy had a net margin of 9.53% and a return on equity of 22.85%. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.87 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 2.17 EPS for the current year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a $0.07 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.49%. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America cut their price objective on Liberty Energy from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Citigroup raised Liberty Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Liberty Energy from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 15th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Liberty Energy from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Liberty Energy from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.78.

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.