Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA) Rating Reiterated by Benchmark

Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Benchmark in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $33.00 target price on the stock. Benchmark’s price target suggests a potential upside of 97.13% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on LBTYA. HSBC downgraded shares of Liberty Global from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $26.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Barclays boosted their price target on Liberty Global from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 12th. Bank of America cut shares of Liberty Global from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. TheStreet upgraded shares of Liberty Global from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Liberty Global from $23.00 to $22.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $24.25.

Liberty Global Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LBTYA traded up $0.10 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $16.74. The company had a trading volume of 1,875,633 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,784,907. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.28. The firm has a market cap of $6.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.59 and a beta of 1.16. Liberty Global has a 1-year low of $15.01 and a 1-year high of $20.56.

Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter. Liberty Global had a negative net margin of 37.27% and a negative return on equity of 14.07%. During the same period last year, the business earned ($1.59) earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Liberty Global will post -0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Liberty Global

In related news, CAO Jason Waldron sold 11,226 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.29, for a total transaction of $216,549.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 70,666 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,363,147.14. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director J David Wargo sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.35, for a total transaction of $520,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 159,632 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,769,615.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Jason Waldron sold 11,226 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.29, for a total transaction of $216,549.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 70,666 shares in the company, valued at $1,363,147.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 113,629 shares of company stock worth $2,046,783. 11.51% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liberty Global

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LBTYA. Hi Line Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Liberty Global by 23.6% in the third quarter. Hi Line Capital Management LLC now owns 1,202,445 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,586,000 after acquiring an additional 229,400 shares during the last quarter. CQS US LLC raised its stake in shares of Liberty Global by 51.3% during the third quarter. CQS US LLC now owns 3,405,950 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,310,000 after buying an additional 1,154,230 shares during the last quarter. Bfsg LLC acquired a new position in Liberty Global in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $106,000. Graham Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in Liberty Global in the third quarter valued at approximately $673,000. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Liberty Global in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $141,000. Institutional investors own 37.20% of the company’s stock.

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.