Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) Short Interest Update

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) was the target of a large drop in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 12,430,000 shares, a drop of 16.5% from the February 13th total of 14,890,000 shares. Currently, 8.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,240,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.8 days.

Liberty Energy Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:LBRT traded up $0.04 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $14.59. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 684,633 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,511,856. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $18.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.80. Liberty Energy has a 52 week low of $13.86 and a 52 week high of $24.75. The company has a market capitalization of $2.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.80 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by ($0.06). Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 14.28% and a net margin of 7.32%. As a group, research analysts expect that Liberty Energy will post 0.58 EPS for the current year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Michael Stock sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.82, for a total transaction of $416,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 680,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,161,909.74. This represents a 2.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 40,000 shares of company stock valued at $808,350 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Liberty Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LBRT. FMR LLC lifted its position in Liberty Energy by 17.1% during the third 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 last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 83.5% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,828,712 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,043,000 after purchasing an additional 2,197,352 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,193,918 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Liberty Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $20,337,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Liberty Energy by 15.9% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,012,382 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,866,000 after buying an additional 963,068 shares during the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on LBRT shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 5th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Liberty Energy from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Liberty Energy from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Liberty Energy in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $19.00 price objective on the stock. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Liberty Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.30.

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.