Prospera Financial Services Inc Increases Stake in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Prospera Financial Services Inc grew its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 7.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 16,047 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,091 shares during the quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc’s holdings in Liberty Energy were worth $306,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Liberty Energy in the second quarter worth about $32,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 96.8% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 838 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 69.2% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 713 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 45.0% during the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 93.2% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,180 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 2,016 shares in the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Liberty Energy Stock Up 3.5 %

Shares of LBRT stock opened at $18.99 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $18.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.57 and a 1-year high of $24.75. The company has a market cap of $3.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.04 and a beta of 1.70.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. Liberty Energy had a net margin of 8.02% and a return on equity of 18.50%. The business’s revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.85 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.69%. This is a boost from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.33%.

Insider Transactions at Liberty Energy

In other news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.91, for a total value of $398,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,678,813 shares in the company, valued at $53,335,166.83. This trade represents a 0.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael Stock sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.01, for a total value of $300,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 750,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,011,642.07. This represents a 1.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 99,037 shares of company stock worth $1,911,802. Company insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on LBRT. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI upgraded Liberty Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Atb Cap Markets downgraded shares of Liberty Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Liberty Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.