Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) Announces Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.06 EPS

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT - Get Free Report) released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.06), Briefing.com reports. Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 32.28% and a net margin of 11.72%. The company had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.08 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. Liberty Energy's quarterly revenue was down 12.8% on a year-over-year basis.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

Shares of LBRT traded up $0.59 on Thursday, reaching $22.11. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,557,304 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,968,351. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.49 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.00, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.85. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $21.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.65. Liberty Energy has a 12-month low of $11.62 and a 12-month high of $23.31.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 6th will be issued a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 6th. Liberty Energy's payout ratio is 8.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on LBRT. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $23.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Liberty Energy news, insider R Sean Elliott sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total transaction of $410,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 218,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,479,865. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Liberty Energy news, insider R Sean Elliott sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total transaction of $410,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 218,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,479,865. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director William F. Kimble sold 12,459 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.55, for a total transaction of $268,491.45. Following the sale, the director now owns 69,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,507,702.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 98,459 shares of company stock valued at $2,077,491. 3.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liberty Energy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. PFS Investments Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Liberty Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $172,000. Cetera Investment Advisers purchased a new position in shares of Liberty Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $170,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 14.8% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 12,564 shares of the company's stock valued at $168,000 after purchasing an additional 1,616 shares in the last quarter. Bridgefront Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Liberty Energy in the second quarter valued at $158,000. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 157.4% in the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 11,034 shares of the company's stock valued at $148,000 after purchasing an additional 6,748 shares in the last quarter. 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.