Benchmark Lowers Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA) Price Target to $27.00

Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA) had its price target lowered by stock analysts at Benchmark from $30.00 to $27.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Benchmark’s target price suggests a potential upside of 48.43% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on LBTYA. Barclays reduced their price objective on Liberty Global from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. HSBC cut shares of Liberty Global from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $26.00 to $20.00 in a report on Monday, March 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Liberty Global currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.70.

Liberty Global Stock Performance

Shares of LBTYA opened at $18.19 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $17.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.58. The stock has a market cap of $6.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.81 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.28. Liberty Global has a one year low of $15.01 and a one year high of $20.56.

Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter. Liberty Global had a negative net margin of 37.27% and a negative return on equity of 14.07%. The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($1.59) EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Liberty Global will post -0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director J David Wargo sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.35, for a total transaction of $520,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 159,632 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,769,615.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 11.51% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division bought a new position in Liberty Global in the 1st quarter worth $91,000. Bfsg LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Liberty Global in the fourth quarter valued at about $106,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Liberty Global in the fourth quarter worth about $141,000. Tevis Investment Management acquired a new position in shares of Liberty Global during the 1st quarter worth about $180,000. Finally, Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Liberty Global during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $302,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 37.20% of the company’s stock.

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.