Liberty Energy Inc. $LBRT Shares Sold by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC lessened its stake in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 14.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 785,107 shares of the company’s stock after selling 131,530 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Liberty Energy were worth $22,611,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in LBRT. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 7,855 shares of the company’s stock valued at $226,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Liberty Energy by 79.6% during the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 914 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 405 shares in the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System boosted its holdings in Liberty Energy by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 23,760 shares of the company’s stock worth $439,000 after buying an additional 477 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Liberty Energy by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 22,583 shares of the company’s stock valued at $417,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Finally, First Horizon Corp grew its position in Liberty Energy by 58.2% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 1,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 596 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman William F. Kimble sold 7,350 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.92, for a total value of $249,312.00. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 89,805 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,046,185.60. The trade was a 7.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael Stock sold 9,999 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.89, for a total value of $258,874.11. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 773,711 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,031,377.79. This trade represents a 1.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 54,012 shares of company stock worth $1,673,803. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:LBRT opened at $17.62 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.99. The company has a fifty day moving average of $26.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.87 billion, a PE ratio of 23.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.54. Liberty Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $9.90 and a fifty-two week high of $34.48.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. Liberty Energy had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 1.14%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.12 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Investors of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.65%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $38.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Zacks Research lowered Liberty Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Liberty Energy from $37.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on Liberty Energy from $34.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Liberty Energy from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.09.

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. As of as of December 31, 2023, the company owned and operated a fleet of approximately 40 active hydraulic fracturing; and two sand mines in the Permian Basin.