Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) Shares Bought by Principal Securities Inc.

Principal Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 13.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 15,334 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,849 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Liberty Energy were worth $305,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in Liberty Energy by 96.8% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 838 shares during the period. Quarry LP raised its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 237.5% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,991 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,401 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Liberty Energy by 604.9% during 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 purchased a new stake in Liberty Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $60,000. Finally, US Bancorp DE grew its position in Liberty Energy by 93.2% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,180 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 2,016 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LBRT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Liberty Energy from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Atb Cap Markets raised Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price 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. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Five equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.30.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

LBRT opened at $17.86 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.29. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.57 and a 52-week high of $24.75. The company has a market cap of $2.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.55 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 16,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.23, for a total transaction of $291,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,562,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,720,080.99. This represents a 0.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael Stock sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.49, for a total transaction of $184,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 705,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,039,277.43. The trade was a 1.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 68,936 shares of company stock worth $1,341,184. 3.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.