Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) Raises Dividend to $0.08 Per Share

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 of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This is a positive change from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07.

Liberty Energy has increased its dividend payment by an average of 63.9% per year over the last three years. Liberty Energy has a dividend payout ratio of 12.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research 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 Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LBRT traded up $0.29 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $20.09. 4,237,918 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,474,034. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.37. The company has a market cap of $3.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.68. 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 52 week low of $16.69 and a 52 week high of $24.75.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LBRT. Barclays cut their target price on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America reduced 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. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $24.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.91, for a total value of $398,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,678,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,335,166.83. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.91, for a total transaction of $398,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,678,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,335,166.83. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael Stock sold 5,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.01, for a total transaction of $105,050.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 745,207 shares in the company, valued at $15,656,799.07. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 95,000 shares of company stock worth $1,945,650 in the last three months. 3.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.