Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Reduces Stock Position in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lessened its stake in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 19.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,740 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,125 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Liberty Energy were worth $94,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Quarry LP lifted its position in Liberty Energy by 237.5% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,401 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Liberty Energy by 604.9% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,460 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 2,111 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Liberty Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $60,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Liberty Energy by 176.3% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 3,423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 2,184 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Liberty Energy by 24.8% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,906 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,000 after buying an additional 974 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LBRT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, January 5th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Liberty Energy in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $19.00 target price for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Liberty Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.30.

Insider Activity at Liberty Energy

In other Liberty Energy news, CFO Michael Stock sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.51, for a total transaction of $97,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 700,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,661,038.57. The trade was a 0.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 40,000 shares of company stock valued at $808,350 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:LBRT opened at $14.54 on Tuesday. Liberty Energy Inc. has a twelve month low of $13.86 and a twelve month high of $24.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.77 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.80.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.16 by ($0.06). Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 14.28% and a net margin of 7.32%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is currently 17.11%.

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.