Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.08

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 16th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of 0.08 per share on Friday, December 20th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This is an increase from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07.

Liberty Energy has increased its dividend by an average of 63.9% annually over the last three years. Liberty Energy has a payout ratio of 12.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Liberty Energy to earn $2.32 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 12.1%.

Liberty Energy Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE LBRT traded up $0.29 on Wednesday, reaching $20.09. The stock had a trading volume of 4,237,918 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,474,034. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.68. Liberty Energy has a 12-month low of $16.69 and a 12-month high of $24.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $20.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.37.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.01. Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 22.85% and a net margin of 9.53%. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.87 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Liberty Energy will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on LBRT. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Liberty Energy from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 15th. Barclays reduced their target price on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Liberty Energy from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their target price on Liberty Energy from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Liberty Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $24.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Michael Stock sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.92, for a total transaction of $458,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 765,207 shares in the company, valued at $17,538,544.44. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 95,000 shares of company stock worth $1,945,650. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Liberty Energy

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.