Proficio Capital Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 10,223 Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 10,223 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of LBRT. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,433,866 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,410,000 after buying an additional 196,619 shares during the last quarter. Bailard Inc. grew its stake in Liberty Energy by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 35,836 shares of the company’s stock valued at $713,000 after acquiring an additional 4,100 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 176.3% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 3,423 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 2,184 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Liberty Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $411,000. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 369.9% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 234,904 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,672,000 after purchasing an additional 184,918 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LBRT opened at $16.21 on Friday. Liberty Energy Inc. has a twelve month low of $13.86 and a twelve month high of $24.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $17.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.51. The company has a market capitalization of $2.63 billion, a PE ratio of 8.67 and a beta of 1.58.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by ($0.06). Liberty Energy had a net margin of 7.32% and a return on equity of 14.28%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.58 EPS for the current year.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.97%. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is 17.11%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Atb Cap Markets upgraded Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. 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 report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Liberty Energy from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Liberty Energy in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $19.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Liberty Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $20.00 to $25.00 in a research report on Thursday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Liberty Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.90.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Michael Stock sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. This represents a 0.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 40,000 shares of company stock worth $808,350 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

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.