The Goldman Sachs Group Begins Coverage on Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT)

The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) in a research note issued to investors on Friday. The brokerage issued a neutral rating and a $19.00 price target on the stock.

LBRT has been the subject of several other reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 18th. Atb Cap Markets upgraded shares of Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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 note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Liberty Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Liberty Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.50.

Liberty Energy Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of LBRT opened at $18.99 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The firm has a market cap of $3.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.04 and a beta of 1.71. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $18.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.03. Liberty Energy has a 12-month low of $16.57 and a 12-month high of $24.75.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. Liberty Energy had a net margin of 8.02% and a return on equity of 18.50%. Liberty Energy’s revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Liberty Energy will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This is a positive change from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.24%.

Insider Activity

In other Liberty Energy news, CFO Michael Stock sold 5,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.21, for a total transaction of $86,050.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 725,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,480,812.47. The trade was a 0.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.77, for a total value of $395,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,638,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,169,333.01. The trade was a 0.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 112,973 shares of company stock worth $2,144,485. Corporate insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LBRT. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Liberty Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Covestor Ltd grew its position in Liberty Energy by 96.8% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 838 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its stake in Liberty Energy by 237.5% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 1,401 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC increased its stake in Liberty Energy by 45.0% in the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 82.1% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 1,431 shares during the period. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.