Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Invests $979,000 in Liberty Energy Inc. $LBRT

Key Points

• The Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio invested approximately $979,000 in Liberty Energy Inc. during the second quarter, acquiring 85,245 shares of the company.
• Liberty Energy reported $1.04 billion in revenue for the latest quarter, which was slightly above analysts' expectations, although its earnings per share missed projections.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.08, representing an annualized dividend yield of 2.5% and a payout ratio of 24.62%.

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 85,245 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $979,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio owned about 0.05% of Liberty Energy at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LBRT. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S bought a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy in the 1st quarter worth about $50,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 281.1% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the company's stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 3,193 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 45.3% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,465 shares of the company's stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 1,392 shares during the last quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy in the 1st quarter worth about $161,000. Finally, Sowell Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Liberty Energy during the 1st quarter valued at about $162,000. Institutional investors own 98.22% of the company's stock.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

Liberty Energy stock opened at $12.86 on Friday. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 52-week low of $9.50 and a 52-week high of $23.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.89 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.05. 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 (NYSE:LBRT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.14 by ($0.02). Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 6.01% and a net margin of 5.29%.The business had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.64 EPS. Liberty Energy's quarterly revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Liberty Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on LBRT. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 28th. Piper Sandler cut 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 report on Thursday, August 14th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Liberty Energy in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Liberty Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, September 20th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $15.05.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.