Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA) Stock: Insider John Malone Buys 51,296 Shares

Liberty Global Ltd (NASDAQ:LBTYA) major shareholder John Malone acquired 51,296 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $9.68 per share, with a total value of $496,545.28. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 9,119,039 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $88,272,297.52. This trade represents a 0.57% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Major shareholders that own at least 10% of a company’s shares are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Liberty Global Stock Up 0.9%

LBTYA stock opened at $9.99 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.41 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.35 and a beta of 1.06. Liberty Global Ltd has a 12 month low of $7.36 and a 12 month high of $13.52. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.28.

Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 3rd. The company reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.32) by $1.64. Liberty Global had a negative return on equity of 25.59% and a negative net margin of 44.40%. The firm had revenue of $1.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Liberty Global Ltd will post -1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LBTYA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group cut their target price on Liberty Global from $12.10 to $11.90 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liberty Global in a report on Thursday, October 29th. New Street Research upgraded Liberty Global from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $14.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. Barclays reduced their target price on Liberty Global from $10.00 to $7.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 20th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Liberty Global from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.78.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LBTYA. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its holdings in Liberty Global by 94.8% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 349,916 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,979,000 after purchasing an additional 170,328 shares during the last quarter. Lancaster Investment Management purchased a new position in shares of Liberty Global in the third quarter valued at $34,336,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in Liberty Global by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,245,059 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,896,000 after acquiring an additional 251,727 shares during the last quarter. Amundi purchased a new position in Liberty Global during the 1st quarter valued at about $6,196,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Liberty Global during the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,529,000. 37.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Liberty Global

Liberty Global is an international telecommunications company that provides broadband, mobile, television and fixed-line voice services through operating companies and joint ventures. Its businesses serve residential and business customers, with offerings that include internet access, mobile connectivity, video services and related communications products.

The company’s European portfolio includes Virgin Media O2 in the United Kingdom, VodafoneZiggo in the Netherlands and Telenet in Belgium.