Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) Receives $31.09 Average Target Price from Analysts

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $31.0909.

LBRT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price target on Liberty Energy from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $31.00 price objective on shares of Liberty Energy in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $37.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 24th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $38.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Liberty Energy in a report on Wednesday, July 29th.

Liberty Energy Stock Down 1.9%

NYSE:LBRT opened at $19.44 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.99. The company has a market capitalization of $3.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.60. Liberty Energy has a one year low of $9.90 and a one year high of $34.48. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.14.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.01. Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 1.14% and a net margin of 2.92%.The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.12 earnings per share. Liberty Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Liberty Energy will post 0.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Investors of record on Friday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.65%.

Insider Transactions at Liberty Energy

In other Liberty Energy news, CFO Michael Stock sold 3,333 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.95, for a total value of $59,827.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 770,378 shares in the company, valued at $13,828,285.10. The trade was a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Arjun N. Murti bought 14,053 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $17.79 per share, with a total value of $250,002.87. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 41,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $740,437.59. The trade was a 50.98% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 49,995 shares of company stock valued at $1,484,318. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LBRT. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in Liberty Energy by 4.5% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 94,205 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,491,000 after buying an additional 4,095 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 1,992.2% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 12,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $190,000 after acquiring an additional 11,455 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 0.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 868,978 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,756,000 after acquiring an additional 4,955 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 22.0% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 81,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,289,000 after acquiring an additional 14,663 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy in the 2nd quarter worth about $119,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Energy Company 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. 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.