The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Purchases 290,320 Shares of Liberty Energy Inc. $LBRT

Key Points

• The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in Liberty Energy Inc. by 13.5%, owning over 2.4 million shares valued at approximately $38.6 million as of its latest SEC filing.
• Liberty Energy's recent earnings report showed a missed EPS estimate of $0.12 compared to the expected $0.14, with revenues of $1.04 billion down 10.1% year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 2.8% with a dividend payout ratio of 24.62%.

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT - Free Report) by 13.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,438,018 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 290,320 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 1.51% of Liberty Energy worth $38,593,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new position in Liberty Energy during the first quarter valued at $3,999,000. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp purchased a new position in shares of Liberty Energy in the first quarter valued at about $2,015,000. Callodine Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Liberty Energy in the first quarter valued at about $5,517,000. Penn Capital Management Company LLC lifted its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 91.5% in the first quarter. Penn Capital Management Company LLC now owns 516,789 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,201,000 after acquiring an additional 246,980 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 10.4% in the first quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 565,214 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,947,000 after acquiring an additional 53,324 shares in the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on LBRT. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $20.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Barclays reduced their target price on Liberty Energy from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Liberty Energy from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Liberty Energy from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Liberty Energy from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Liberty Energy currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $15.05.

Liberty Energy Trading Down 2.5%

Shares of LBRT traded down $0.26 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $10.47. 4,204,287 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,636,085. The stock has a market cap of $1.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.05 and a beta of 0.63. The stock's 50-day moving average is $11.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $12.63. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 12 month low of $9.50 and a 12 month high of $23.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

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

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. Liberty Energy's dividend payout ratio 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.