Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) Short Interest Update

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 19,900,000 shares, a growth of 18.8% from the March 15th total of 16,750,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,040,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.5 days. Approximately 12.4% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Liberty Energy Trading Down 1.5 %

NYSE LBRT opened at $22.12 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $3.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Liberty Energy has a twelve month low of $11.62 and a twelve month high of $23.23. The business’s fifty day moving average is $21.00 and its 200 day moving average is $19.59.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $1.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.08 billion. Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 32.28% and a net margin of 11.72%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.82 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Liberty Energy will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were given a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.86%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on LBRT. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Liberty Energy from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. Bank of America increased their price target on Liberty Energy from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Liberty Energy from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.67.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.66, for a total transaction of $453,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,858,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,780,725.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Liberty Energy news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.66, for a total transaction of $453,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,858,814 shares in the company, valued at $64,780,725.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ryan T. Gosney sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total value of $123,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 140,706 shares in the company, valued at $2,884,473. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 98,459 shares of company stock valued at $2,077,491. Company insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LBRT. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. increased its position in Liberty Energy by 24.7% in the 1st quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 13,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $194,000 after buying an additional 2,637 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 129.4% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,089,808 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,178,716 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 17.4% in the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 17,607 shares of the company’s stock worth $261,000 after purchasing an additional 2,607 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 775.0% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 219,897 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,259,000 after purchasing an additional 194,767 shares during the period. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Liberty Energy by 106.8% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 49,221 shares of the company’s stock valued at $729,000 after acquiring an additional 25,424 shares during the period. 98.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.