Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) Short Interest Down 16.5% in February

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 12,430,000 shares, a drop of 16.5% from the February 13th total of 14,890,000 shares. Currently, 8.0% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 3,240,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.8 days.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

Liberty Energy stock traded down $0.18 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $14.53. The company had a trading volume of 552,152 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,510,472. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.72. The company has a market cap of $2.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.77 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Liberty Energy has a fifty-two week low of $13.86 and a fifty-two week high of $24.75.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.16 by ($0.06). Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 14.28% and a net margin of 7.32%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Liberty Energy will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LBRT has been the topic of several research reports. TD Cowen cut their price target on Liberty Energy from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Atb Cap Markets upgraded shares of Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Liberty Energy from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.30.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Liberty Energy news, CFO Michael Stock sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.82, for a total transaction of $416,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 680,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,161,909.74. This represents a 2.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 40,000 shares of company stock worth $808,350 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Liberty Energy by 61.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,146,179 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,061,000 after acquiring an additional 1,193,918 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC grew its stake in Liberty Energy by 168.2% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 62,979 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,202,000 after buying an additional 39,497 shares in the last quarter. Impala Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Liberty Energy by 89.2% during the 3rd quarter. Impala Asset Management LLC now owns 350,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,682,000 after purchasing an additional 165,000 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 8.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,237,247 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,709,000 after buying an additional 166,443 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbour Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $498,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

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.