Zacks Research Comments on Liberty Energy Inc.’s FY2024 Earnings (NYSE:LBRT)

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) – Analysts at Zacks Research raised their FY2024 earnings per share estimates for shares of Liberty Energy in a report issued on Monday, September 16th. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now expects that the company will post earnings of $2.14 per share for the year, up from their prior forecast of $2.10. The consensus estimate for Liberty Energy’s current full-year earnings is $2.17 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Liberty Energy’s Q4 2024 earnings at $0.46 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $0.50 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $0.69 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $0.51 EPS and Q2 2026 earnings at $0.74 EPS.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.01. The company 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 quarterly revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.87 EPS.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 15th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Liberty Energy from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Citigroup raised Liberty Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $24.78.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

Shares of LBRT stock opened at $20.94 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.45. Liberty Energy has a 12-month low of $16.33 and a 12-month high of $24.75. The company has a market cap of $3.49 billion, a PE ratio of 7.64, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liberty Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LBRT. Foundry Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 15.6% in the 1st quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 209,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,332,000 after buying an additional 28,153 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 114.2% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 174,265 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,611,000 after buying an additional 92,923 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 14.1% during the first quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 1,338,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,732,000 after acquiring an additional 165,400 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management lifted its holdings in Liberty Energy by 60.2% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,437,041 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,775,000 after purchasing an additional 539,861 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in Liberty Energy during the 1st quarter valued at $690,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Michael Stock sold 15,626 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.82, for a total transaction of $325,333.32. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 789,581 shares in the company, valued at $16,439,076.42. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Michael Stock sold 15,626 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.82, for a total value of $325,333.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 789,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,439,076.42. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.91, for a total transaction of $398,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,678,813 shares in the company, valued at $53,335,166.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 100,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,084,231 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is currently 10.22%.

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.