QSV Equity Investors LLC Purchases Shares of 78,566 Liberty Energy Inc. $LBRT

Key Points

• QSV Equity Investors LLC has made a new investment in Liberty Energy Inc., acquiring 78,566 shares valued at approximately $1.24 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Vanguard Group and American Century Companies, have increased their stakes in Liberty Energy, with institutional ownership now at 98.22% of the company.
• Liberty Energy recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share, representing a 2.9% dividend yield, and the company had a revenue of $1.04 billion in the last quarter, although it missed earnings estimates.

QSV Equity Investors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 78,566 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,244,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of LBRT. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 45.3% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,465 shares of the company's stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 1,392 shares in the last quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. bought a new position in shares of Liberty Energy during the first quarter worth about $161,000. Sowell Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Liberty Energy during the first quarter worth about $162,000. Cooper Financial Group grew its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 10.9% during the first quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 11,641 shares of the company's stock worth $184,000 after buying an additional 1,145 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Personal CFO Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Liberty Energy during the first quarter worth about $191,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.22% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LBRT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Liberty Energy from $16.00 to $13.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Liberty Energy from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Liberty Energy from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Liberty Energy from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Liberty Energy has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $15.05.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

Shares of LBRT traded down $0.0450 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $10.6050. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,267,991 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,423,334. Liberty Energy Inc. has a one year low of $9.50 and a one year high of $23.58. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $12.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $13.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.16 and a beta of 0.67.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.14 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 6.01% and a net margin of 5.29%.The company's revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.64 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. Liberty Energy's dividend payout ratio is 24.62%.

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.