D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Acquires 42,229 Shares of Liquidity Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:LQDT)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its position in Liquidity Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:LQDT - Free Report) by 322.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,315 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 42,229 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned 0.18% of Liquidity Services worth $1,786,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Corton Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Liquidity Services in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $240,000. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Liquidity Services in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,046,000. Bosun Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Liquidity Services by 15.4% in the 4th quarter. Bosun Asset Management LLC now owns 44,108 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,424,000 after buying an additional 5,896 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Liquidity Services by 155.2% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 63,587 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,053,000 after buying an additional 38,675 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Liquidity Services by 651.4% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 798,688 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $25,790,000 after buying an additional 692,390 shares in the last quarter. 71.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Jaime Mateus-Tique sold 29,169 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.06, for a total transaction of $847,651.14. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 230,393 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,695,220.58. This represents a 11.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 105,100 shares of company stock valued at $3,223,400 over the last ninety days. 28.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on LQDT shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Liquidity Services from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barrington Research reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Liquidity Services in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th.

Liquidity Services Price Performance

Shares of LQDT traded up $0.21 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $23.97. 17,721 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 229,388. Liquidity Services, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.87 and a fifty-two week high of $39.72. The business has a 50-day moving average of $29.40 and a 200-day moving average of $30.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $748.37 million, a P/E ratio of 31.85 and a beta of 1.31.

Liquidity Services (NASDAQ:LQDT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The business services provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.31. The business had revenue of $116.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $125.20 million. Liquidity Services had a net margin of 6.37% and a return on equity of 20.94%.

Liquidity Services Company Profile

Liquidity Services, Inc provides e-commerce marketplaces, self-directed auction listing tools, and value-added services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through four segments: GovDeals, Retail Supply Chain Group (RSCG), Capital Assets Group (CAG), and Machinio. Its marketplaces include liquidation.com that enable corporations to sell surplus and salvage consumer goods and retail capital assets; GovDeals marketplace, which provides self-directed service solutions in which sellers list their own assets that enables local and state government entities, and commercial businesses located in the United States and Canada to sell surplus and salvage assets; and AllSurplus, a centralized marketplace that connects global buyer base with assets from across the network of marketplaces in a single destination.