Bank of New York Mellon Corp Takes Position in Liberty Energy Inc. $LBRT

Key Points

• Bank of New York Mellon acquired 2.34 million Liberty Energy shares worth approximately $61.2 million, giving it a 1.43% stake. Institutional investors collectively own 98.22% of LBRT.
• Analyst sentiment remains moderately bullish, with seven Buy ratings and six Holds, though several firms recently lowered price targets. The consensus target is $30.36, well above the reported share price of $18.43.
• Liberty Energy exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting $0.09 EPS and $1.19 billion in revenue, while announcing a quarterly dividend of $0.09 per share, representing a 2.0% yield.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,336,206 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $61,185,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 1.43% of Liberty Energy as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LBRT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,096,443 shares of the company's stock worth $334,060,000 after purchasing an additional 97,998 shares during the period. UBS Group AG raised its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 20.3% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 790,706 shares of the company's stock valued at $14,596,000 after acquiring an additional 133,167 shares during the period. Strs Ohio increased its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 122.4% in the fourth quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 168,800 shares of the company's stock worth $3,116,000 after acquiring an additional 92,900 shares during the last quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. acquired a new position in Liberty Energy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $629,000. Finally, Situational Awareness LP bought a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $10,471,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.22% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on Liberty Energy from $34.00 to $29.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $37.00 to $36.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Liberty Energy in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Liberty Energy from $38.00 to $34.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Liberty Energy has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $30.36.

Liberty Energy Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of Liberty Energy stock opened at $18.43 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $22.39 and a 200 day moving average of $26.90. The company has a market capitalization of $3.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.60. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 52-week low of $9.90 and a 52-week high of $34.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 1.14% and a net margin of 2.92%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.12 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Investors of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Liberty Energy's payout ratio is presently 48.65%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Arjun N. Murti purchased 14,053 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $17.79 per share, with a total value of $250,002.87. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 41,621 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $740,437.59. This trade represents a 50.98% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael Stock sold 13,332 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.46, for a total transaction of $392,760.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 787,043 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $23,186,286.78. This represents a 1.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 29,997 shares of company stock valued at $814,785 in the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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