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

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) saw unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors acquired 5,552 call options on the company. This is an increase of 399% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,113 call options.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

Liberty Energy stock traded up $0.79 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $24.86. 1,515,425 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,123,229. The company has a current ratio of 2.21, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $28.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.12. The firm has a market cap of $4.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.33, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.54. Liberty Energy has a fifty-two week low of $9.90 and a fifty-two week high of $34.48.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.19. Liberty Energy had a net margin of 3.71% and a return on equity of 1.41%. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $954.71 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.04 earnings per share. Liberty Energy’s revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Liberty Energy will post 0.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Investors of record on Friday, September 4th will be issued a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 39.56%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Michael Stock sold 9,999 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.89, for a total value of $258,874.11. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 773,711 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,031,377.79. This trade represents a 1.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Chairman William F. Kimble sold 7,350 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.92, for a total transaction of $249,312.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 89,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,046,185.60. This trade represents a 7.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 54,012 shares of company stock worth $1,673,803 over the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Liberty Energy

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 5.0% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 7,855 shares of the company’s stock worth $226,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in Liberty Energy by 79.6% during the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its holdings in Liberty Energy by 2.0% in the 4th 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 holdings in Liberty Energy by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 22,583 shares of the company’s stock valued at $417,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Corp increased its position in Liberty Energy by 58.2% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 1,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 596 shares during the period. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on LBRT. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Liberty Energy from $28.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Barclays raised their price target on Liberty Energy from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Zacks Research upgraded Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Liberty Energy in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Liberty Energy in a research report on Friday, June 26th. One equities research 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 a consensus target price of $32.09.

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.