Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Acquires New Position in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. bought a new position in shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 80,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,591,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 257.8% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,197 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 1,583 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 604.9% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,460 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 2,111 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $60,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Liberty Energy by 176.3% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 3,423 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 2,184 shares during the period. Finally, Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new position in Liberty Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $99,000. Institutional investors own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on LBRT. Citigroup dropped their price target on Liberty Energy from $16.00 to $13.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 5th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Liberty Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $25.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective 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. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on Liberty Energy from $10.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.05.

Liberty Energy Stock Down 0.3 %

LBRT stock opened at $12.23 on Wednesday. Liberty Energy Inc. has a twelve month low of $9.50 and a twelve month high of $24.75. The company has a market cap of $1.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.54 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $13.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.16.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $977.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $960.64 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.48 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Liberty Energy

In other news, CFO Michael Stock sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.94, for a total value of $179,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 717,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,868,218.48. This represents a 1.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

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.