JPMorgan Chase & Co. Grows Stake in Liberty Energy Inc. $LBRT

JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 23.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,876,443 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 355,576 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Liberty Energy were worth $23,155,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of LBRT. Kelleher Financial Advisors bought a new position in Liberty Energy in the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Advisory Services Network LLC bought a new stake in Liberty Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Liberty Energy by 213.7% in the second quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 3,607 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 2,457 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in Liberty Energy by 1,163.9% in the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,855 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 3,550 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 931.1% in the third quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 5,372 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 4,851 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Liberty Energy

In other news, insider R Sean Elliott sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.40, for a total value of $635,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 343,150 shares in the company, valued at $8,716,010. This trade represents a 6.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Michael Stock sold 25,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.38, for a total value of $634,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 784,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,918,706.22. The trade was a 3.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LBRT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Liberty Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Liberty Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $31.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Liberty Energy from $23.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. 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, Citigroup boosted their price target on Liberty Energy from $21.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.42.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

Shares of LBRT stock opened at $29.62 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $26.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.54. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 52 week low of $9.50 and a 52 week high of $32.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.80 billion, a PE ratio of 33.28 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.16) by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $880.59 million. Liberty Energy had a net margin of 3.69% and a return on equity of 1.24%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.10 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is currently 40.45%.

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. 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.