Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) shares gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $15.42, but opened at $16.21. Liberty Energy shares last traded at $16.27, with a volume of 507,874 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on LBRT shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Liberty Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $20.00 to $25.00 in a report on Thursday. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered Liberty Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $24.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Liberty Energy from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Liberty Energy in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $19.00 price objective for the company. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.90.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.55 billion, a PE ratio of 8.44 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $17.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.49.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last released 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%. Research analysts expect that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is 17.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Michael Stock sold 10,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.94, for a total transaction of $179,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 717,292 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,868,218.48. The trade was a 1.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold a total of 40,000 shares of company stock worth $808,350 over the last three months. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liberty Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LBRT. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Liberty Energy by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 82,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,635,000 after purchasing an additional 708 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. increased its holdings in Liberty Energy by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 11,263 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,000 after acquiring an additional 733 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its stake in Liberty Energy by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 54,149 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,077,000 after purchasing an additional 1,185 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 237.5% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,401 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 29,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $591,000 after purchasing an additional 1,423 shares during the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.