Empirical Finance LLC Acquires 1,185 Shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Empirical Finance LLC grew its holdings in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 54,149 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,185 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Liberty Energy were worth $1,077,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LBRT. Creative Planning lifted its position in Liberty Energy by 28.6% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 18,753 shares of the company’s stock worth $392,000 after buying an additional 4,169 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 52,948 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,106,000 after acquiring an additional 3,132 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in Liberty Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $642,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Liberty Energy by 82.1% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 1,431 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its stake in Liberty Energy by 56.5% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 9,722 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,000 after purchasing an additional 3,509 shares during the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 2,936 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.16, for a total value of $56,253.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,543,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,740,683.32. This trade represents a 0.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael Stock sold 10,000 shares of the company’s 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 in the company, valued at $12,868,218.48. This represents a 1.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 68,936 shares of company stock worth $1,341,184. 3.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Liberty Energy from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 5th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Liberty Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.30.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

Shares of LBRT opened at $17.30 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.27. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $19.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.57. Liberty Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.57 and a fifty-two week high of $24.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.83 billion, a PE ratio of 9.25 and a beta of 1.63.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by ($0.06). Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 14.28% and a net margin of 7.32%. Equities analysts predict that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.85%. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.11%.

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.