Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC Sells 1,127,783 Shares of Liberty Energy Inc. $LBRT

Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 64.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 629,752 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,127,783 shares during the period. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC owned about 0.39% of Liberty Energy worth $18,137,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,096,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $334,060,000 after acquiring an additional 97,998 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,233,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $265,931,000 after purchasing an additional 431,269 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased 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 worth $105,826,000 after purchasing an additional 3,771,724 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Liberty Energy by 901.2% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,431,125 shares of the company’s stock worth $127,616,000 after purchasing an additional 3,988,535 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Liberty Energy by 184.7% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,287,466 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,687,000 after purchasing an additional 2,132,685 shares during the period. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on LBRT. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Liberty Energy in a report on Friday, June 26th. Morgan Stanley set a $32.00 price objective on Liberty Energy in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $31.00 price objective on shares of Liberty Energy in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Liberty Energy from $38.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $37.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Liberty Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.09.

Key Liberty Energy News

Here are the key news stories impacting Liberty Energy this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Liberty Energy beat Q2 expectations, reporting EPS of $0.09 and revenue of about $1.19 billion, both above estimates, with revenue up 14% year over year. Management also pointed to record utilization, pricing improvements, and AI-related initiatives as growth drivers. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Liberty Energy announced a strategic joint venture with PowerBridge to support a planned 2 GW powered data center campus in Texas, reinforcing its push into power-fueled growth opportunities beyond its core oilfield services business. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: RBC Capital lowered its price target on Liberty Energy to $29 from $34 and kept a “sector perform” rating. The new target still suggests meaningful upside, but the cut may have dampened enthusiasm. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage around Liberty Energy’s earnings call highlighted an upbeat growth strategy, but also noted investor focus on market volatility and the company’s higher capital spending plans. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Reports said LBRT plunged after management raised its full-year capex outlook, which can raise concerns about near-term free cash flow even if it supports longer-term expansion. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks Research downgraded Liberty Energy from “strong-buy” to “hold,” adding to cautious sentiment around the stock. Article Title

Liberty Energy Trading Down 11.6%

Liberty Energy stock opened at $17.34 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.43, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.97. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $9.90 and a 1 year high of $34.48. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $27.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.15.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. Liberty Energy had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 1.14%. Liberty Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.12 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.28 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 Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is presently 48.65%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman William F. Kimble sold 7,350 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.92, for a total value of $249,312.00. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 89,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,046,185.60. The trade was a 7.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael Stock sold 19,998 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.48, for a total value of $669,533.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 800,375 shares in the company, valued at $26,796,555. This trade represents a 2.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 54,012 shares of company stock valued at $1,673,803 in the last three months. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

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.