Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA) Upgraded to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Liberty Global to a “sell” rating, while the broader analyst consensus remains “Hold” with a $13.22 price target. Barclays and UBS recently lowered their price targets to $10.00 and $11.90, respectively.
• Liberty Global shares opened at $7.80, near their 52-week low of $7.77 and below both their 50-day ($9.92) and 200-day ($10.98) moving averages.
• The company reported a quarterly loss of $1.07 per share, missing the $0.48 consensus estimate, while revenue of $1.17 billion also fell short of expectations. Analysts project a full-year loss of $1.47 per share.

Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA - Get Free Report) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen to a "sell" rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Liberty Global in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Liberty Global from $13.00 to $10.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Liberty Global from $12.10 to $11.90 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Liberty Global presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $13.22.

Liberty Global Stock Performance

LBTYA stock opened at $7.80 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $9.92 and a 200-day moving average of $10.98. Liberty Global has a fifty-two week low of $7.77 and a fifty-two week high of $13.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82.

Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 24th. The company reported ($1.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.48) by ($0.59). The firm had revenue of $1.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. Liberty Global had a negative net margin of 62.12% and a negative return on equity of 28.83%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Liberty Global will post -1.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liberty Global

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC boosted its position in shares of Liberty Global by 9.7% in the first quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 23,644,817 shares of the company's stock valued at $285,866,000 after acquiring an additional 2,097,847 shares during the period. Rubric Capital Management LP grew its stake in Liberty Global by 17.3% during the first quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 11,752,855 shares of the company's stock valued at $142,092,000 after acquiring an additional 1,734,423 shares in the last quarter. Troluce Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Liberty Global during the first quarter valued at approximately $9,759,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Liberty Global by 6.3% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,832,267 shares of the company's stock valued at $106,782,000 after acquiring an additional 521,750 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi bought a new stake in Liberty Global during the 1st quarter worth approximately $6,196,000. 37.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Liberty Global

Liberty Global plc is an international telecommunications and media company that invests in and operates broadband, mobile, fixed-line voice and television businesses. Its services generally include high-speed internet, wireless connectivity, digital television, streaming and related communications products for residential and business customers.

The company has operations and strategic interests across Europe. Its portfolio includes Sunrise in Switzerland and Telenet in Belgium, while Liberty Global also holds significant joint-venture interests in Virgin Media O2 in the United Kingdom and VodafoneZiggo in the Netherlands.

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