Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.07

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 16th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 6th will be given a dividend of 0.07 per share on Thursday, June 20th. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 6th.

Liberty Energy has increased its dividend payment by an average of 63.9% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 1 consecutive years. Liberty Energy has a dividend payout ratio of 8.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Liberty Energy to earn $3.05 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 9.2%.

Liberty Energy Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:LBRT opened at $21.52 on Thursday. Liberty Energy has a one year low of $11.62 and a one year high of $23.23. The company has a 50 day moving average of $21.09 and a 200-day moving average of $19.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.49 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The stock has a market cap of $3.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.85.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.06). Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 32.28% and a net margin of 11.72%. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Liberty Energy will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on LBRT shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective 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. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Liberty Energy from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Piper Sandler lifted 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.27, for a total transaction of $405,400.00. Following the transaction, 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 is available through this link. In related news, CEO Christopher A. Wright sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.27, for a total transaction of $405,400.00. Following the transaction, 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 is available through this link. Also, Director William F. Kimble sold 12,459 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.55, for a total transaction 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 98,459 shares of company stock worth $2,077,491. Insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liberty Energy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. KBC Group NV acquired a new position in shares of Liberty Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $55,000. West Tower Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Liberty Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $56,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 709 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 71.4% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,896 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 1,623 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP increased its holdings in shares of Liberty Energy by 111.0% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,965 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 2,086 shares during the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.