Liberty Energy Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.07 (NYSE:LBRT)

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 16th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 6th will be given a dividend of 0.07 per share on Thursday, June 20th. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 6th.

Liberty Energy has increased its dividend payment by an average of 63.9% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 1 years. Liberty Energy has a dividend payout ratio of 8.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Liberty Energy to earn $3.05 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 9.2%.

Liberty Energy Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE LBRT opened at $21.52 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.59 billion, a PE ratio of 6.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.85. Liberty Energy has a one year low of $11.62 and a one year high of $23.23. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.49 and a quick ratio of 1.17.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.08 billion. Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 32.28% and a net margin of 11.72%. The firm’s revenue was down 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Liberty Energy will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on LBRT shares. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Liberty Energy from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Liberty Energy from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Liberty Energy from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.67.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.66, for a total value of $453,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,858,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,780,725.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director William F. Kimble sold 12,459 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.55, for a total value of $268,491.45. Following the transaction, the director now owns 69,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,507,702.65. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.66, for a total value of $453,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,858,814 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,780,725.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 98,459 shares of company stock valued at $2,077,491 in the last 90 days. 3.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Quarry LP raised its stake in Liberty Energy by 111.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,965 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 2,086 shares during the period. KBC Group NV acquired a new stake in Liberty Energy during the 4th quarter worth $55,000. West Tower Group LLC acquired a new stake in Liberty Energy during the 4th quarter worth $56,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in Liberty Energy by 27.7% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,273 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 709 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its stake in Liberty Energy by 71.4% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 1,623 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Energy Company 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.