Citigroup Lowers Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) to Neutral

22 Oct 2024, 07:37 by Mitch Edgeman · The Markets Daily

Citigroup downgraded shares of Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT – Free Report) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report released on Friday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has $19.00 price objective on the stock, down from their previous price objective of $25.00.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 15th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Liberty Energy from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on Liberty Energy from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on Liberty Energy from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 15th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.70.

View Our Latest Research Report on LBRT

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

Shares of LBRT opened at $17.54 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a market cap of $2.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.68. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $19.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.27. Liberty Energy has a 52 week low of $16.69 and a 52 week high of $24.75.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.10). Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 22.85% and a net margin of 9.53%. The company had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Liberty Energy will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This is an increase from Liberty Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.82%. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.68%.

Insider Activity at Liberty Energy

In other Liberty Energy news, CFO Michael Stock sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.92, for a total value of $458,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 765,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,538,544.44. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 95,000 shares of company stock worth $1,945,650. 3.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in LBRT. Foundry Partners LLC increased its holdings in Liberty Energy by 15.6% in the 1st quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 209,056 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,332,000 after acquiring an additional 28,153 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 114.2% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 174,265 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,611,000 after purchasing an additional 92,923 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 14.1% in the first quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 1,338,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,732,000 after purchasing an additional 165,400 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 60.2% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,437,041 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,775,000 after purchasing an additional 539,861 shares during the period. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Liberty Energy during the 1st quarter valued at $690,000. 98.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Liberty Energy Company Profile

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