Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC Makes New $2.39 Million Investment in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 120,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,387,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LBRT. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Liberty Energy by 83.5% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,828,712 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,043,000 after purchasing an additional 2,197,352 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Liberty Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $20,337,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Liberty Energy by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,178,089 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,992,000 after purchasing an additional 505,634 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in Liberty Energy by 28.9% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,147,698 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,718,000 after purchasing an additional 480,957 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Liberty Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $8,140,000. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LBRT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Liberty Energy in a research report on Monday, April 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $19.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Liberty Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $20.00 to $25.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $10.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $18.05.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

Shares of LBRT opened at $12.64 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.71. Liberty Energy Inc. has a twelve month low of $9.50 and a twelve month high of $24.75. The company has a 50 day moving average of $12.94 and a 200-day moving average of $16.71. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.01. Liberty Energy had a net margin of 7.32% and a return on equity of 14.28%. The business had revenue of $977.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $960.64 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.48 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.53%. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.19%.

Liberty Energy 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.