South Dakota Investment Council Grows Stock Position in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

South Dakota Investment Council lifted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 25.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 114,148 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 23,400 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Liberty Energy were worth $2,071,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Liberty Energy by 4.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,546,529 shares of the company’s stock worth $380,522,000 after purchasing an additional 893,563 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Liberty Energy by 93.9% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,587,073 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,210,000 after buying an additional 2,221,588 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Liberty Energy by 53.1% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,244,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,568,000 after buying an additional 778,111 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Liberty Energy by 12.4% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,241,076 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,505,000 after buying an additional 247,074 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Liberty Energy by 14.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,116,651 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,200,000 after buying an additional 263,823 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LBRT opened at $22.76 on Thursday. Liberty Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $11.62 and a fifty-two week high of $23.31. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $21.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a market cap of $3.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.85.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.08 billion. Liberty Energy had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 26.46%. Liberty Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 6th will be paid a $0.07 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 5th. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Ryan T. Gosney sold 6,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total value of $123,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 140,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,884,473. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Liberty Energy news, insider R Sean Elliott sold 20,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total transaction of $410,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 218,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,479,865. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ryan T. Gosney sold 6,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total value of $123,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 140,706 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,884,473. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 98,459 shares of company stock valued at $2,077,491. 3.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on LBRT shares. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Liberty Energy from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Liberty Energy from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Liberty Energy from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Bank of America raised their target price on Liberty Energy from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.30.

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.