Cerity Partners LLC Makes New $6.06 Million Investment in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT)

Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new position in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 333,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,057,000. Cerity Partners LLC owned approximately 0.20% of Liberty Energy as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LBRT. Macquarie Group Ltd. boosted its stake in Liberty Energy by 181.5% in the first quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 8,085,410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,574,000 after acquiring an additional 5,213,132 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in Liberty Energy by 38.1% in the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 13,136,514 shares of the company’s stock valued at $166,571,000 after acquiring an additional 3,621,253 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,972,147 shares of the company’s stock valued at $215,207,000 after buying an additional 2,831,183 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Liberty Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,326,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 47.3% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,528,916 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,444,000 after buying an additional 2,417,129 shares in the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on LBRT shares. 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 research note on Friday, January 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 21st. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.67.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

Liberty Energy stock opened at $21.60 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.60 billion, a PE ratio of 6.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.85. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 1-year low of $11.62 and a 1-year high of $23.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.08 billion. Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 32.28% and a net margin of 11.72%. Liberty Energy’s quarterly revenue was down 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.82 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were issued a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. Liberty Energy’s payout ratio is 8.86%.

Insider Transactions at Liberty Energy

In related news, CAO Ryan T. Gosney sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total transaction of $123,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 140,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,884,473. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Ryan T. Gosney sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total transaction of $123,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 140,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,884,473. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 98,459 shares of company stock valued at $2,077,491 in the last quarter. Insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Energy 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.