Liberty Global Ltd (NASDAQ:LBTYA) Stock Rated "Hold" by Wall Street Analysts

Key Points

• Analyst sentiment is mixed but averages “Hold”: Of seven analysts covering Liberty Global, four rate it Hold, two Buy and one Sell; the average 12-month price target is $12.78.
• Quarterly results beat expectations: Liberty Global reported EPS of $1.32 versus consensus estimates of a $0.32 loss, and revenue of $1.92 billion versus forecasts of $1.71 billion.
• Executives made sizable stock purchases: CEO Michael T. Fries bought 110,000 shares and EVP Enrique Rodriguez acquired 211,313 shares in transactions on November 4.

Liberty Global Ltd (NASDAQ:LBTYA - Get Free Report) has received an average recommendation of "Hold" from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $12.78.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on LBTYA. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Liberty Global from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Liberty Global from $10.00 to $7.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Liberty Global in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Liberty Global from $12.10 to $11.90 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, New Street Research upgraded shares of 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.

Liberty Global Stock Up 2.0%

NASDAQ:LBTYA opened at $9.90 on Friday. Liberty Global has a one year low of $7.36 and a one year high of $13.52. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.28. The company has a market capitalization of $3.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.34 and a beta of 1.06.

Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 net margin of 62.12% and a negative return on equity of 28.83%. The company had revenue of $1.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.71 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Liberty Global will post -1.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Michael T. Fries bought 110,000 shares of Liberty Global stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 4th. The stock was bought at an average price of $9.37 per share, for a total transaction of $1,030,700.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 1,238,525 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,604,979.25. The trade was a 9.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Enrique Rodriguez acquired 211,313 shares of Liberty Global stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $9.45 per share, with a total value of $1,996,907.85. Following the purchase, the executive vice president owned 602,378 shares in the company, valued at $5,692,472.10. The trade was a 54.04% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 4.34% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC increased its holdings in Liberty Global by 9.7% during the first quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 23,644,817 shares of the company's stock worth $285,866,000 after buying an additional 2,097,847 shares during the last quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Liberty Global by 17.3% in the first quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 11,752,855 shares of the company's stock worth $142,092,000 after buying an additional 1,734,423 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Liberty Global by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,832,267 shares of the company's stock worth $106,782,000 after buying an additional 521,750 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of 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 period. Finally, Lancaster Investment Management acquired a new stake in Liberty Global during the third quarter valued at $34,336,000. Institutional investors own 37.20% of the company's stock.

Liberty Global Company Profile

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

The company has operations and strategic investments across Europe. Its portfolio includes Sunrise in Switzerland and Telenet in Belgium, as well as 50% interests in Virgin Media O2 in the United Kingdom, a joint venture with Telefónica, and VodafoneZiggo in the Netherlands, a joint venture with Vodafone.

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