Bank of New York Mellon Corp Acquires New Position in Liberty Energy Inc. $LBRT

Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 2,336,206 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $61,185,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LBRT. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in Liberty Energy by 4.5% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 94,205 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,491,000 after buying an additional 4,095 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 1,992.2% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 12,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $190,000 after acquiring an additional 11,455 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 0.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 868,978 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,756,000 after acquiring an additional 4,955 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Liberty Energy by 22.0% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 81,446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,289,000 after acquiring an additional 14,663 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Liberty Energy during the second quarter valued at about $119,000. 98.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on LBRT shares. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Liberty Energy from $37.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 24th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Liberty Energy in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $34.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.36.

Liberty Energy Price Performance

NYSE:LBRT opened at $18.43 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.99. The company has a 50-day moving average of $22.39 and a 200-day moving average of $26.90. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 52 week low of $9.90 and a 52 week high of $34.48. The company has a market capitalization of $3.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.91, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.60.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. Liberty Energy had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 1.14%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.12 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 48.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Liberty Energy news, CFO Michael Stock sold 3,333 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.95, for a total transaction of $59,827.35. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 770,378 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,828,285.10. This trade represents a 0.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Arjun N. Murti purchased 14,053 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $17.79 per share, for a total transaction of $250,002.87. Following the purchase, the director owned 41,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $740,437.59. This represents a 50.98% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 29,997 shares of company stock worth $814,785 over the last quarter. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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. As of as of December 31, 2023, the company owned and operated a fleet of approximately 40 active hydraulic fracturing; and two sand mines in the Permian Basin.