Swiss National Bank Trims Stock Position in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Swiss National Bank lowered its stake in shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 0.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 309,100 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,300 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.19% of Liberty Energy worth $5,901,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its holdings in Liberty Energy by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 131,559 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,725,000 after buying an additional 8,459 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Liberty Energy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $368,000. Boston Partners acquired a new position in shares of Liberty Energy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,299,000. Aurora Investment Counsel purchased a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,784,000. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 571.6% during the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 35,248 shares of the company’s stock valued at $718,000 after buying an additional 30,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Michael Stock sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.01, for a total transaction of $300,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 750,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,011,642.07. This represents a 1.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 2,037 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.15, for a total transaction of $36,971.55. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,578,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,805,455.95. This represents a 0.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 99,037 shares of company stock valued at $1,911,802. Insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

Shares of LBRT stock opened at $18.45 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $18.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.44. The company has a market cap of $3.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.75 and a beta of 1.70. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 12 month low of $16.57 and a 12 month high of $24.75.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.10). Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 18.50% and a net margin of 8.02%. The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.73%. This is a boost from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on LBRT. Citigroup lowered shares of Liberty Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $25.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Atb Cap Markets lowered Liberty Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI raised Liberty Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Liberty Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.89.

Liberty Energy 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.