Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) Downgraded to Sell Rating by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Liberty Energy's stock has been downgraded to a "sell" rating by Wall Street Zen, lowering its previous "hold" rating.
• The company's quarterly earnings showed a loss of ($0.06) per share, missing analyst expectations and reflecting a 16.8% decline in year-over-year revenue.
• Despite the downgrade, Liberty Energy still has a mix of analysts' ratings, with two giving a Strong Buy rating and ten assigning a Hold rating, indicating varying investor sentiments.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note issued on Sunday.

LBRT has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Liberty Energy in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Liberty Energy from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Barclays reissued an "equal weight" rating and set a $12.00 price objective (down previously from $14.00) on shares of Liberty Energy in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Liberty Energy from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $14.85.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LBRT opened at $15.36 on Friday. Liberty Energy has a fifty-two week low of $9.50 and a fifty-two week high of $23.58. The business has a 50-day moving average of $11.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $11.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.72 and a beta of 0.74. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 16th. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.01) by ($0.05). Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 1.71% and a net margin of 4.76%.The company had revenue of $947.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $967.05 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. Liberty Energy's quarterly revenue was down 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Liberty Energy will post 0.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liberty Energy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Liberty Energy by 1.7% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 912,636 shares of the company's stock valued at $14,447,000 after acquiring an additional 15,596 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Liberty Energy during the first quarter valued at about $761,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in Liberty Energy during the first quarter valued at about $1,110,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in Liberty Energy by 6.1% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,054,615 shares of the company's stock valued at $32,566,000 after acquiring an additional 118,878 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Liberty Energy by 1,279.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 17,983 shares of the company's stock valued at $285,000 after acquiring an additional 16,679 shares during the period. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Liberty Energy Company 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.

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