Brokerages Set Liberty Global Ltd. (NASDAQ:LBTYA) Target Price at $17.75

Liberty Global Ltd. (NASDAQ:LBTYA) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $17.75.

Several research analysts recently commented on LBTYA shares. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Liberty Global from $20.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 25th. Bank of America lowered shares of Liberty Global from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $13.10 to $12.60 in a report on Friday, December 6th. UBS Group lowered shares of Liberty Global from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $23.00 to $13.00 in a report on Monday, November 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Liberty Global from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $24.70 to $12.40 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Liberty Global from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Nicholas V. Tompras sold 57,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.94, for a total value of $737,580.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 16,153 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $209,019.82. This represents a 77.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 11.51% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Liberty Global

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LBTYA. Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in Liberty Global by 8.2% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 12,717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 968 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Liberty Global by 58.1% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,940 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,081 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Liberty Global by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 470,132 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,999,000 after purchasing an additional 1,615 shares during the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Liberty Global by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 64,960 shares of the company’s stock valued at $829,000 after purchasing an additional 3,437 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Liberty Global by 16.7% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 25,321 shares of the company’s stock valued at $323,000 after purchasing an additional 3,619 shares during the last quarter. 37.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Liberty Global Price Performance

LBTYA opened at $11.86 on Friday. Liberty Global has a 1 year low of $10.55 and a 1 year high of $21.56. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $11.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.14 billion, a PE ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.27.

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

About Liberty Global

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.