Squarepoint Ops LLC Purchases 201,839 Shares of Liberty Energy Inc. $LBRT

Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its position in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 23.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,051,488 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 201,839 shares during the quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC owned about 0.64% of Liberty Energy worth $27,538,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LBRT. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 2,521.1% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 4,916,989 shares of the company’s stock valued at $128,776,000 after purchasing an additional 4,729,397 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Liberty Energy by 901.2% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,431,125 shares of the company’s stock valued at $127,616,000 after buying an additional 3,988,535 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Liberty Energy by 78.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,575,840 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,826,000 after buying an additional 3,771,724 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 1,529.2% in the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,753,357 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,976,000 after acquiring an additional 2,584,359 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $61,185,000. 98.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on LBRT shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Zacks Research lowered shares of Liberty Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $34.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Liberty Energy in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.00.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LBRT opened at $21.39 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $21.17 and its 200 day moving average is $26.55. The stock has a market cap of $3.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.91, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.61. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 1-year low of $9.99 and a 1-year high of $34.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 1.14% and a net margin of 2.92%.Liberty Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.12 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.7%. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 48.65%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Michael Stock sold 6,666 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.84, for a total transaction of $132,253.44. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 760,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,085,919.36. This trade represents a 0.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Arjun Murti bought 14,053 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $17.79 per share, for a total transaction of $250,002.87. Following the transaction, the director owned 41,621 shares in the company, valued at $740,437.59. This trade represents a 50.98% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 19,998 shares of company stock valued at $450,955 in the last ninety days. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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. 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.