Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) Short Interest Down 17.7% in April

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT - Get Free Report) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 16,370,000 shares, a decrease of 17.7% from the March 31st total of 19,900,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,010,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.4 days. Approximately 10.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Liberty Energy news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.27, for a total value of $405,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,830,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $57,372,248.54. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Liberty Energy news, Director William F. Kimble sold 12,459 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.55, for a total value of $268,491.45. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 69,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,507,702.65. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.27, for a total value of $405,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,830,402 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $57,372,248.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 98,459 shares of company stock worth $2,077,491. Corporate insiders own 3.60% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liberty Energy

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LBRT. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new position in Liberty Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Liberty Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in Liberty Energy by 70.8% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,909 shares of the company's stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 1,206 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Liberty Energy by 59.7% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,166 shares of the company's stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 1,183 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in Liberty Energy by 27.7% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,273 shares of the company's stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 709 shares during the period. 98.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LBRT remained flat at $23.01 during trading on Friday. 1,960,473 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,645,986. The company has a market capitalization of $3.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.40, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.85. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $21.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.89. Liberty Energy has a fifty-two week low of $11.62 and a fifty-two week high of $23.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.08 billion. Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 26.46% and a net margin of 10.43%. The business's revenue was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Liberty Energy will post 2.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $0.07 per share. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 5th. Liberty Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Liberty Energy from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Barclays raised their price objective on Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Liberty Energy from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Liberty Energy from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $24.30.

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.