Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC Has $8.95 Million Stake in Liberty Energy Inc. $LBRT

Key Points

• Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC has increased its stake in Liberty Energy Inc. by 10.4%, owning approximately 565,214 shares valued at nearly $8.95 million.
• Numerous hedge funds, including Vanguard and American Century Companies, are also increasing their positions in Liberty Energy, indicating strong institutional interest with 98.22% of the stock owned by such investors.
• Analysts have mixed rating targets for Liberty Energy, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a declining average target price now set at $15.05 amid recent earnings performance.

Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT - Free Report) by 10.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 565,214 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 53,324 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC owned 0.35% of Liberty Energy worth $8,947,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LBRT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 6.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,443,909 shares of the company's stock valued at $291,967,000 after purchasing an additional 1,128,491 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Liberty Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $20,337,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Liberty Energy in the first quarter valued at about $7,743,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 28.9% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,147,698 shares of the company's stock valued at $42,718,000 after acquiring an additional 480,957 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caxton Associates LP acquired a new position in shares of Liberty Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $7,570,000. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on LBRT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $16.00 to $13.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $20.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Liberty Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $15.05.

Liberty Energy Trading Up 0.3%

Liberty Energy stock traded up $0.03 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $11.31. 2,027,594 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,401,919. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 12 month low of $9.50 and a 12 month high of $23.58. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $11.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $12.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.70 and a beta of 0.67.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.14 by ($0.02). Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 6.01% and a net margin of 5.29%.The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.64 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.58 EPS for the current year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Liberty Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.62%.

Liberty Energy Profile

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.