South Dakota Investment Council Trims Holdings in Liberty Energy Inc. $LBRT

South Dakota Investment Council reduced its stake in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 17.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 747,194 shares of the company’s stock after selling 159,414 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Liberty Energy were worth $21,519,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Liberty Energy by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,096,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $334,060,000 after purchasing an additional 97,998 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Liberty Energy by 4.9% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,233,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $265,931,000 after purchasing an additional 431,269 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Liberty Energy by 78.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,575,840 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,826,000 after purchasing an additional 3,771,724 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 901.2% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,431,125 shares of the company’s stock worth $127,616,000 after buying an additional 3,988,535 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 184.7% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,287,466 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,687,000 after buying an additional 2,132,685 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:LBRT opened at $17.07 on Thursday. Liberty Energy Inc. has a 52 week low of $9.90 and a 52 week high of $34.48. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.54.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. Liberty Energy had a return on equity of 1.14% and a net margin of 2.92%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.12 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.25 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 48.65%.

Insider Transactions at Liberty Energy

In other news, CFO Michael Stock sold 9,999 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.89, for a total transaction of $258,874.11. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 773,711 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,031,377.79. The trade was a 1.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Chairman William F. Kimble sold 7,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.92, for a total transaction of $249,312.00. Following the sale, the chairman owned 89,805 shares in the company, valued at $3,046,185.60. The trade was a 7.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 54,012 shares of company stock worth $1,673,803 in the last ninety days. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LBRT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Liberty Energy in a report on Friday, June 26th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Liberty Energy from $37.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley set a $32.00 target price on Liberty Energy in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Liberty Energy in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays increased 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. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.09.

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.