Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) Short Interest Down 16.5% in February

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) was the target of a significant decline in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 12,430,000 shares, a decline of 16.5% from the February 13th total of 14,890,000 shares. Approximately 8.0% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 3,240,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.8 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Michael Stock sold 20,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.82, for a total value of $416,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 680,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,161,909.74. The trade was a 2.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 40,000 shares of company stock valued at $808,350. Insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Liberty Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LBRT. Palogic Value Management L.P. bought a new stake in Liberty Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $1,492,000. Alpha Wealth Funds LLC bought a new stake in Liberty Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $728,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in Liberty Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,365,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Liberty Energy by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 338,798 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,739,000 after buying an additional 17,440 shares in the last quarter. Finally, iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new position in Liberty Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $312,000. 98.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LBRT has been the topic of several research reports. Atb Cap Markets upgraded Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 5th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Liberty Energy in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $19.00 price objective for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.30.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

NYSE:LBRT traded up $0.04 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $14.66. 2,941,234 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,518,268. The firm has a market cap of $2.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.84 and a beta of 1.58. 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.72. Liberty Energy has a 52 week low of $13.86 and a 52 week high of $24.75.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.16 by ($0.06). Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 14.28% and a net margin of 7.32%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Liberty Energy will post 0.58 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 Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is 17.11%.

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.