Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the fifteen research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $18.6364.

LBRT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen raised their price target on Liberty Energy from $10.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Liberty Energy from $15.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Citigroup raised Liberty Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $12.00 to $21.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Wall Street Zen cut Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Liberty Energy in a research report on Monday.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liberty Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LBRT. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its position in Liberty Energy by 1,163.9% during the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,855 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 3,550 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $208,000. Advisory Services Network LLC purchased a new position in shares of Liberty Energy during the third quarter worth about $35,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 12.8% during the third quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 18,901 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,000 after purchasing an additional 2,147 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 3.6% in the third quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 139,107 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,768,000 after purchasing an additional 4,814 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

LBRT opened at $18.54 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $17.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $13.87. Liberty Energy has a twelve month low of $9.50 and a twelve month high of $23.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The company has a market capitalization of $3.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.55 and a beta of 0.47.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 16th. The company reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by ($0.05). Liberty Energy had a net margin of 4.76% and a return on equity of 1.69%. The business had revenue of $947.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $967.05 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Liberty Energy will post 0.58 EPS for the current year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 4th were issued a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 4th. This is a positive change from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is 32.14%.

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. As of as of December 31, 2023, the company owned and operated a fleet of approximately 40 active hydraulic fracturing; and two sand mines in the Permian Basin.