Liberty Global Ltd. (NASDAQ:LBTYA) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Liberty Global Ltd. (NASDAQ:LBTYA) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the nine research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $17.75.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on LBTYA. UBS Group downgraded Liberty Global from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $13.00 in a report on Monday, November 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Liberty Global from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $24.70 to $12.40 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target on shares of Liberty Global in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Bank of America downgraded Liberty Global from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $13.10 to $12.60 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Liberty Global from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Charles H. R. Bracken sold 84,103 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.56, for a total value of $1,224,539.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 53,312 shares in the company, valued at $776,222.72. This trade represents a 61.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Nicholas V. Tompras sold 57,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.94, for a total transaction of $737,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 16,153 shares in the company, valued at $209,019.82. This represents a 77.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.51% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liberty Global

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in Liberty Global by 394.8% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 219,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,803,000 after acquiring an additional 175,292 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Liberty Global by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,844,357 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,814,000 after acquiring an additional 198,269 shares during the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Liberty Global in the 4th quarter valued at about $304,000. Wolverine Trading LLC grew its stake in Liberty Global by 295.4% in the 4th quarter. Wolverine Trading LLC now owns 19,824 shares of the company’s stock valued at $248,000 after acquiring an additional 29,971 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wexford Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Liberty Global during the 4th quarter worth about $791,000. 37.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Liberty Global Price Performance

LBTYA stock opened at $11.37 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.24. Liberty Global has a twelve month low of $10.55 and a twelve month high of $21.56. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported $6.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.92) by $7.25. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. Liberty Global had a return on equity of 9.83% and a net margin of 23.09%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Liberty Global will post -1.35 EPS for the current year.

Liberty Global Company Profile

Liberty Global Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides broadband internet, video, fixed-line telephony, and mobile communications services to residential and business customers. It offers value-added broadband services, such as WiFi features, security, anti-virus, firewall, spam protection, smart home services, online storage solutions, and web spaces; and Connect Box that delivers in-home Wi-Fi service.