71,900 Shares in Liberty Energy Inc. $LBRT Bought by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 71,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,071,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LBRT. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 23,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $439,000 after buying an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Liberty Energy by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 22,583 shares of the company’s stock worth $417,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Corp grew its position in Liberty Energy by 58.2% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 1,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 596 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its stake in Liberty Energy by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 37,085 shares of the company’s stock valued at $685,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its stake in Liberty Energy by 39.9% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,140 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 610 shares during the period. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LBRT has been the subject of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $31.00 price objective on shares of Liberty Energy in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Zacks Research upgraded Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Liberty Energy from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Liberty Energy in a research note on Friday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Liberty Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.18.

Insider Transactions at Liberty Energy

In other Liberty Energy news, CFO Michael Stock sold 19,998 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.48, for a total value of $669,533.04. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 800,375 shares in the company, valued at $26,796,555. The trade was a 2.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Chairman William F. Kimble sold 7,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.92, for a total transaction of $249,312.00. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 89,805 shares in the company, valued at $3,046,185.60. This represents a 7.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 44,013 shares of company stock worth $1,414,929. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

Shares of LBRT stock opened at $26.17 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.55. Liberty Energy Inc. has a one year low of $9.90 and a one year high of $34.48. The firm has a market cap of $4.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 2.21 and a quick ratio of 1.97.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $954.71 million. Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 1.41% and a net margin of 3.71%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.04 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 4th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.56%.

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.