Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $29.42, but opened at $27.65. Liberty Energy shares last traded at $31.3230, with a volume of 1,179,869 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on LBRT. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Liberty Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $31.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of Liberty Energy in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of Liberty Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $17.00 to $32.00 in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Liberty Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.83.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $28.26 and its 200-day moving average is $21.90. The stock has a market cap of $5.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.98 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by $0.19. Liberty Energy had a net margin of 3.69% and a return on equity of 1.24%. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $954.71 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.04 earnings per share. Liberty Energy’s revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Liberty Energy Inc. will post -0.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Liberty Energy news, CFO Michael Stock sold 25,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.38, for a total value of $634,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 784,819 shares in the company, valued at $19,918,706.22. This trade represents a 3.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Arjun N. Murti purchased 9,696 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was bought at an average price of $25.79 per share, for a total transaction of $250,059.84. Following the acquisition, the director owned 27,568 shares in the company, valued at $710,978.72. The trade was a 54.25% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liberty Energy

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,096,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $334,060,000 after acquiring an additional 97,998 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,802,399 shares of the company’s stock valued at $162,494,000 after acquiring an additional 189,829 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 78.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,575,840 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,826,000 after acquiring an additional 3,771,724 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 28.2% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 7,809,390 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,368,000 after acquiring an additional 1,716,007 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 184.7% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,287,466 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,687,000 after acquiring an additional 2,132,685 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

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. 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.