Aurora Investment Counsel Sells 72,378 Shares of Liberty Energy Inc. $LBRT

Aurora Investment Counsel cut its holdings in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 85.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,810 shares of the company’s stock after selling 72,378 shares during the quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel’s holdings in Liberty Energy were worth $147,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 126,088 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,447,000 after buying an additional 829 shares during the period. Cooper Financial Group lifted its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 10.9% during the 1st quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 11,641 shares of the company’s stock valued at $184,000 after buying an additional 1,145 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 63,748 shares of the company’s stock valued at $732,000 after buying an additional 1,212 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 45.3% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,465 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 1,392 shares during the period. Finally, Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 16.3% during the 2nd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 14,887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $171,000 after buying an additional 2,087 shares during the period. 98.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Liberty Energy Trading Up 3.8%

NYSE:LBRT opened at $15.91 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.20 and a beta of 0.74. Liberty Energy Inc. has a one year low of $9.50 and a one year high of $23.58. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $11.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.88.

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

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 4th will be paid a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 4th. This is a boost from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LBRT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Liberty Energy from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $12.00 price target (down from $14.00) on shares of Liberty Energy in a report on Monday, October 13th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Liberty Energy from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Liberty Energy in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Liberty Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $14.75.

Liberty Energy 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.