Liberty Energy Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:LBRT)

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) saw unusually large options trading on Monday. Traders purchased 8,817 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 3,118% compared to the typical volume of 274 call options.

Liberty Energy Stock Up 6.0 %

NYSE:LBRT traded up $1.01 on Monday, hitting $17.91. 6,967,196 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,520,299. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $18.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $20.63. Liberty Energy has a 52 week low of $16.57 and a 52 week high of $24.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The company has a market cap of $2.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.43 and a beta of 1.70.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.10). Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 18.50% and a net margin of 8.02%. The company had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Liberty Energy will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This is an increase from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.24%.

Insider Transactions at Liberty Energy

In other news, CFO Michael Stock sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.01, for a total value of $105,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 745,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,656,799.07. The trade was a 0.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.77, for a total transaction of $395,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,638,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,169,333.01. This represents a 0.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 99,037 shares of company stock worth $1,911,802. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liberty Energy

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 17.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,115,282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $345,821,000 after acquiring an additional 2,640,119 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Liberty Energy by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,012,382 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,866,000 after purchasing an additional 963,068 shares during the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP grew its holdings in Liberty Energy by 20.4% during the third quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 4,124,695 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,408,000 after purchasing an additional 699,500 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Liberty Energy by 48.0% during the second quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 1,981,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,385,000 after purchasing an additional 642,700 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Liberty Energy by 17.6% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,961,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,754,000 after buying an additional 594,051 shares during the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on LBRT. Atb Cap Markets lowered Liberty Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup lowered shares of Liberty Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $25.00 to $19.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 18th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.89.

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.