Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have given a buy recommendation and three have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $18.05.

A number of research firms recently commented on LBRT. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded Liberty Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $20.00 to $25.00 in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Liberty Energy in a report on Monday, April 21st. Royal Bank of Canada lowered Liberty Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $24.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $16.00 to $13.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liberty Energy

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Liberty Energy by 197.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 286,661 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,471,000 after purchasing an additional 190,445 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 14.6% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 14,299 shares of the company’s stock valued at $273,000 after buying an additional 1,817 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 4.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 872,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,651,000 after buying an additional 37,927 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 82,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,635,000 after buying an additional 708 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cooper Financial Group acquired a new position in Liberty Energy during the fourth quarter worth $209,000. Institutional investors own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

Shares of LBRT stock opened at $12.52 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.03 billion, a PE ratio of 6.70 and a beta of 0.71. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $12.89 and a 200-day moving average of $16.68. 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 has a one year low of $9.50 and a one year high of $24.75.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $977.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $960.64 million. Liberty Energy had a net margin of 7.32% and a return on equity of 14.28%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.48 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Liberty Energy will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.56%. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.19%.

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.