Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.06 EPS

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) posted its earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.06), Briefing.com reports. Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 26.46% and a net margin of 10.43%. The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.08 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

Liberty Energy Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of Liberty Energy stock opened at $22.37 on Friday. Liberty Energy has a 12-month low of $11.62 and a 12-month high of $23.31. The company has a market cap of $3.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.16, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $21.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.68.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $0.07 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 5th. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.22%.

Insider Transactions at Liberty Energy

In other news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.27, for a total value of $405,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,830,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $57,372,248.54. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, Director William F. Kimble sold 12,459 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.55, for a total value of $268,491.45. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 69,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,507,702.65. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.27, for a total transaction of $405,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,830,402 shares in the company, valued at $57,372,248.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 98,459 shares of company stock valued at $2,077,491. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liberty Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LBRT. Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 111.0% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,965 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 2,086 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV bought a new position in shares of Liberty Energy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $55,000. West Tower Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Liberty Energy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $56,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 27.7% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,273 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 709 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 71.4% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 1,623 shares during the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on LBRT. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.30.

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.