Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) Releases Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.06 EPS

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) released its earnings results on Wednesday. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.06), Briefing.com reports. Liberty Energy had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 26.90%. The company had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.08 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 12.8% on a year-over-year basis.

Liberty Energy Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of LBRT stock traded up $0.32 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $22.42. 800,286 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,938,865. Liberty Energy has a 1 year low of $11.62 and a 1 year high of $23.31. The company’s 50 day moving average is $21.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market cap of $3.74 billion, a PE ratio of 8.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.85.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.07 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 5th. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on LBRT. Bank of America boosted their target price on Liberty Energy from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Liberty Energy from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Liberty Energy from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays boosted their target price on Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Liberty Energy from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.10.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Liberty Energy news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,858,814 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,780,725.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.66, for a total value of $453,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,858,814 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,780,725.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director William F. Kimble sold 12,459 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.55, for a total value of $268,491.45. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 69,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,507,702.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 98,459 shares of company stock worth $2,077,491. Company insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Liberty Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in Liberty Energy by 27.7% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,273 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 709 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 121,187 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,796,000 after purchasing an additional 863 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 42.7% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 5,307 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,000 after purchasing an additional 1,589 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its stake in Liberty Energy by 14.8% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 12,564 shares of the company’s stock worth $168,000 after buying an additional 1,616 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its stake in Liberty Energy by 71.4% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 1,623 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

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.