Weiss Asset Management LP Takes Position in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new position in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 30,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $587,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in 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. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 15.9% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,012,382 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,866,000 after buying an additional 963,068 shares in the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 699,500 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 48.0% in the second quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 1,981,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,385,000 after acquiring an additional 642,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Liberty Energy by 17.6% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,961,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,754,000 after acquiring an additional 594,051 shares during the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LBRT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Liberty Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped 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. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.89.

Liberty Energy Trading Down 6.4 %

Shares of NYSE LBRT opened at $17.23 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Liberty Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.57 and a fifty-two week high of $24.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.20 and a beta of 1.71.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.85 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. This is a boost from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.33%.

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 110,037 shares of company stock worth $2,088,232. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.