Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 14,690,000 shares, a decrease of 14.0% from the December 15th total of 17,080,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,800,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.2 days. Currently, 9.3% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Liberty Energy Stock Down 2.0 %

NYSE:LBRT traded down $0.46 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $22.67. 3,402,142 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,333,240. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $19.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.73. Liberty Energy has a one year low of $16.57 and a one year high of $24.75. The company has a market cap of $3.70 billion, a PE ratio of 10.79 and a beta of 1.66.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.10). Liberty Energy had a net margin of 8.02% and a return on equity of 18.50%. The company had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.85 earnings per share. Liberty Energy’s revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Liberty Energy will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Liberty Energy news, CFO Michael Stock sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.45, for a total transaction of $92,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 720,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,287,819.15. This represents a 0.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 2,037 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.15, for a total transaction of $36,971.55. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,578,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,805,455.95. This represents a 0.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 82,973 shares of company stock valued at $1,586,335 over the last quarter. 3.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liberty Energy

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of LBRT. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 17.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,115,282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $345,821,000 after purchasing an additional 2,640,119 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Liberty Energy by 61.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,146,179 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,061,000 after acquiring an additional 1,193,918 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Liberty Energy by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,012,382 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,866,000 after acquiring an additional 963,068 shares during the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP increased its holdings in Liberty Energy by 20.4% in the 3rd quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 4,124,695 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,408,000 after acquiring an additional 699,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP grew its holdings in Liberty Energy by 285.1% during the 3rd quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 700,814 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,379,000 after buying an additional 518,830 shares in the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on LBRT. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Liberty Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Atb Cap Markets raised shares of Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Liberty Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.20.

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.