Towle & Co. Sells 201,106 Shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Towle & Co. cut its stake in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 22.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 676,498 shares of the company’s stock after selling 201,106 shares during the period. Liberty Energy comprises about 2.3% of Towle & Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Towle & Co. owned 0.41% of Liberty Energy worth $13,456,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,178,089 shares of the company’s stock worth $102,992,000 after purchasing an additional 505,634 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 83.5% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,828,712 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,043,000 after purchasing an additional 2,197,352 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,433,866 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,410,000 after purchasing an additional 196,619 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 28.9% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,147,698 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,718,000 after purchasing an additional 480,957 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,082,239 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,416,000 after purchasing an additional 156,006 shares during the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LBRT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $11.00 price target (down from $20.00) on shares of Liberty Energy in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $16.00 to $13.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Liberty Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $24.00 to $19.00 in a report on Monday, March 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.55.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

LBRT stock opened at $12.24 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $1.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.54 and a beta of 0.71. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.61. Liberty Energy Inc. has a one year low of $9.50 and a one year high of $24.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.27.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $977.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $960.64 million. Liberty Energy had a net margin of 7.32% and a return on equity of 14.28%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.48 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is 21.19%.

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.