Short Interest in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) Declines By 5.4%

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT - Get Free Report) saw a significant drop in short interest during the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 15,490,000 shares, a drop of 5.4% from the April 15th total of 16,370,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,660,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.8 days. Approximately 9.6% of the company's shares are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the firm's 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 directly owns 2,830,402 shares in the company, valued at $57,372,248.54. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, President Ron Gusek sold 50,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.99, for a total transaction of $1,149,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 1,213,259 shares in the company, valued at $27,892,824.41. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of Liberty Energy 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,830,402 shares of the company's stock, valued at $57,372,248.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 182,459 shares of company stock worth $4,025,391 over the last three months. 3.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liberty Energy

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Liberty Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Liberty Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,206 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in Liberty Energy by 27.7% in 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 last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its position in Liberty Energy by 54.6% in the first quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 3,393 shares of the company's stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 1,199 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.22% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on LBRT. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "equal weight" rating and set a $24.00 target price on shares of Liberty Energy in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Bank of America raised their price target on Liberty Energy from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Liberty Energy from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Barclays raised their price target on Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Liberty Energy from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $24.30.

Liberty Energy Stock Up 2.9 %

LBRT traded up $0.67 on Friday, hitting $23.67. The company had a trading volume of 1,447,885 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,815,778. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $21.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $20.13. Liberty Energy has a 12-month low of $11.62 and a 12-month high of $23.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.83.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.06). Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 26.46% and a net margin of 10.43%. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.08 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. Liberty Energy's revenue was down 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Liberty Energy will post 2.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.07 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 6th. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.18%. Liberty Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.22%.

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.