The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Sells 619,459 Shares of Liberty Energy Inc. $LBRT

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company trimmed its holdings in Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE:LBRT) by 42.6% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 835,438 shares of the company’s stock after selling 619,459 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Liberty Energy were worth $24,061,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Root Financial Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Liberty Energy by 79.6% during the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 914 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares in the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Liberty Energy in the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in Liberty Energy in the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Liberty Energy in the 1st quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Liberty Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Institutional investors own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Michael Stock sold 19,998 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.48, for a total transaction of $669,533.04. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 800,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,796,555. The trade was a 2.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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, Director Arjun N. Murti bought 14,053 shares of Liberty Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was purchased 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 trade represents a 50.98% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 54,012 shares of company stock worth $1,673,803. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Energy Trading Up 3.9%

LBRT stock opened at $18.65 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $25.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.10. Liberty Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $9.90 and a fifty-two week high of $34.48. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a PE ratio of 25.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.54.

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.01. Liberty Energy had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 1.14%. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.12 earnings per share. Liberty Energy’s revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Liberty Energy Inc. will post 0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Investors of record on Friday, September 4th will be issued 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 1.9%. Liberty Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.65%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on LBRT. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Liberty Energy from $38.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Liberty Energy in a research note on Wednesday. Zacks Research cut shares of Liberty Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Liberty Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Liberty Energy in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.09.

Liberty Energy Company 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.