Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) Short Interest Up 13.4% in July

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 15,740,000 shares, an increase of 13.4% from the June 30th total of 13,880,000 shares. Approximately 9.9% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,440,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.5 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Liberty Energy from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Citigroup raised Liberty Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. Bank of America cut their price objective on Liberty Energy from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $24.00 price objective on shares of Liberty Energy in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on Liberty Energy from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.78.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:LBRT traded down $0.34 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $22.63. 2,250,005 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,708,043. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.74. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $21.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.35. Liberty Energy has a fifty-two week low of $15.57 and a fifty-two week high of $24.75.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.01. Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 22.85% and a net margin of 9.53%. The business had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.87 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Liberty Energy will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.07 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Michael Stock sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.83, for a total transaction of $436,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 825,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,014,312.47. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Michael Stock sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.83, for a total transaction of $436,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 825,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,014,312.47. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ryan T. Gosney sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.00, for a total value of $96,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 166,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,005,168. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 106,000 shares of company stock worth $2,321,231. 3.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liberty Energy

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new position in Liberty Energy during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Liberty Energy by 69.2% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 713 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in Liberty Energy during the 4th quarter worth $39,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its stake in Liberty Energy by 70.8% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,909 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 1,206 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Liberty Energy by 27.7% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,273 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 709 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.22% 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.