Amalgamated Bank Cuts Stock Position in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Amalgamated Bank trimmed its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 47,690 shares of the company’s stock after selling 804 shares during the quarter. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Liberty Energy were worth $949,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new position in Liberty Energy during the fourth quarter worth $411,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its position in Liberty Energy by 369.9% during the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 234,904 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,672,000 after acquiring an additional 184,918 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in Liberty Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $200,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Liberty Energy by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 33,216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $637,000 after acquiring an additional 2,139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Liberty Energy by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 897,040 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,842,000 after purchasing an additional 24,825 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

Liberty Energy stock opened at $15.98 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.27. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $15.83 and a 1 year high of $24.75. The company has a market capitalization of $2.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.55 and a beta of 1.63.

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

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is 17.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LBRT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Liberty Energy from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Liberty Energy in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $19.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Atb Cap Markets upgraded shares of Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Liberty Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.30.

Insider Activity at Liberty Energy

In other Liberty Energy news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 2,936 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.16, for a total value of $56,253.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,543,877 shares in the company, valued at $48,740,683.32. The trade was a 0.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael Stock sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.94, for a total value of $179,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 717,292 shares in the company, valued at $12,868,218.48. This represents a 1.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 58,936 shares of company stock worth $1,156,284 in the last three months. 3.60% of the stock is owned by company 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.