Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) Short Interest Down 16.5% in February

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) saw a large drop in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 12,430,000 shares, a drop of 16.5% from the February 13th total of 14,890,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,240,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.8 days. Currently, 8.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling at Liberty Energy

In related news, CFO Michael Stock sold 20,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.82, for a total transaction of $416,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 680,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,161,909.74. This trade represents a 2.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 40,000 shares of company stock worth $808,350. Corporate insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liberty Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 82,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,635,000 after acquiring an additional 708 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. increased its holdings in Liberty Energy by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 11,263 shares of the company’s stock worth $224,000 after buying an additional 733 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 24.8% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,906 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,000 after buying an additional 974 shares during the last quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc lifted its holdings in Liberty Energy by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 16,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $306,000 after purchasing an additional 1,091 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 54,149 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,077,000 after buying an additional 1,185 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Energy Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE LBRT traded down $0.18 on Thursday, hitting $14.53. The company had a trading volume of 552,152 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,510,472. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.77 and a beta of 1.58. The business has a 50 day moving average of $18.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.72. Liberty Energy has a 12-month low of $13.86 and a 12-month high of $24.75. 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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by ($0.06). Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 14.28% and a net margin of 7.32%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Liberty Energy will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LBRT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Liberty Energy from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Five investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.30.

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.