Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) Cut to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Liberty Energy's stock rating has been downgraded from "hold" to "sell" by Wall Street Zen, with multiple research firms adjusting their price targets and ratings.
• The company reported a quarterly EPS of $0.12, missing expectations of $0.14, and experienced a 10.1% decline in revenue year-over-year.
• Currently, Liberty Energy has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with a target price of $15.05, despite mixed ratings from analysts.

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT - Free Report) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report published on Saturday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on LBRT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target 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. Piper Sandler dropped their price target 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. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of 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 target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Liberty Energy presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $15.05.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

LBRT traded up $0.75 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $12.41. The company had a trading volume of 888,544 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,481,740. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.16. The stock has a market cap of $2.01 billion, a PE ratio of 9.53 and a beta of 0.63. Liberty Energy has a 12-month low of $9.50 and a 12-month high of $23.58. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $11.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $12.15.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.01 billion. Liberty Energy had a net margin of 5.29% and a return on equity of 6.01%. The firm's revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.64 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Liberty Energy will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th were paid 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 2.6%. Liberty Energy's dividend payout ratio is 24.62%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liberty Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Liberty Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Liberty Energy by 213.7% during the 2nd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 3,607 shares of the company's stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 2,457 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in Liberty Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $48,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S purchased a new stake in Liberty Energy during the 1st quarter valued at $50,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Liberty Energy by 281.1% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the company's stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 3,193 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.22% of the company's stock.

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.