Verition Fund Management LLC Sells 9,457 Shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Verition Fund Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 91,806 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,457 shares during the quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Liberty Energy were worth $1,753,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Liberty Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 96.8% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 838 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew 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 valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 713 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC boosted its position in Liberty Energy by 45.0% during the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its position in Liberty Energy by 93.2% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,180 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 2,016 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Liberty Energy

In other news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.77, for a total transaction of $395,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,638,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,169,333.01. This represents a 0.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael Stock sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.21, for a total value of $86,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 725,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,480,812.47. This represents a 0.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 110,037 shares of company stock valued at $2,088,232 over the last ninety days. 3.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

Shares of LBRT stock opened at $17.24 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.20. Liberty Energy Inc. has a one year low of $16.57 and a one year high of $24.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.82 billion, a PE ratio of 8.21 and a beta of 1.71. 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 (NYSE:LBRT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 18.50% and a net margin of 8.02%. Liberty Energy’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. This is a positive change 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 13.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on LBRT. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Liberty Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded Liberty Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $25.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.89.

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.