Federated Hermes Inc. Raises Holdings in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT - Free Report) by 518.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 719,851 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 603,496 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. owned about 0.43% of Liberty Energy worth $13,058,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CWM LLC lifted its stake in Liberty Energy by 59.7% in 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. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new position in shares of Liberty Energy during the third quarter worth approximately $97,000. Spirit of America Management Corp NY acquired a new position in shares of Liberty Energy during the fourth quarter worth approximately $127,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Liberty Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $190,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Liberty Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $191,000. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.66, for a total value of $453,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,858,814 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,780,725.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.66, for a total transaction of $453,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,858,814 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,780,725.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director William F. Kimble sold 12,459 shares of the business'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 value of $268,491.45. Following the transaction, the director now owns 69,963 shares in the company, valued at $1,507,702.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 98,459 shares of company stock worth $2,077,491 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.70% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target 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 upped their price objective on Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Liberty Energy from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "equal weight" rating and set a $24.00 price target on shares of Liberty Energy in a research note on Monday. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Liberty Energy from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $24.30.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:LBRT traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $22.76. 2,766,161 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,964,068. The firm has a market cap of $3.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $21.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.79. Liberty Energy Inc. has a one year low of $11.62 and a one year high of $23.31.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.08 billion. Liberty Energy had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 26.46%. The firm's revenue was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.07 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 5th. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.23%. Liberty Energy's payout ratio is currently 10.22%.

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.