Traders Buy Large Volume of Liberty Energy Call Options (NYSE:LBRT)

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) saw some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Investors bought 9,410 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 358% compared to the average volume of 2,055 call options.

Liberty Energy Trading Up 3.8%

Shares of NYSE:LBRT opened at $15.91 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.20 and a beta of 0.74. Liberty Energy has a 1-year low of $9.50 and a 1-year high of $23.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.32. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $11.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.88.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 16th. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $947.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $967.05 million. Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 1.69% and a net margin of 4.76%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.45 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Liberty Energy will post 0.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 4th. This is a positive change from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is 28.57%.

Institutional Trading of Liberty Energy

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S purchased a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 213.7% in the 2nd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 3,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 2,457 shares in the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 281.1% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 3,193 shares in the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on LBRT shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Liberty Energy in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler set a $16.00 price target on shares of Liberty Energy and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $12.00 price objective (down from $14.00) on shares of Liberty Energy in a report on Monday, October 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $14.75.

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.