Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC Buys Shares of 17,000 Liberty Global Ltd. (NASDAQ:LBTYA)

Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Liberty Global Ltd. (NASDAQ:LBTYA) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 17,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $302,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in Liberty Global by 144.5% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 114,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,028,000 after acquiring an additional 67,863 shares during the period. Simplex Trading LLC lifted its holdings in Liberty Global by 56.6% in the fourth quarter. Simplex Trading LLC now owns 85,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,514,000 after acquiring an additional 30,782 shares during the period. Bfsg LLC acquired a new position in shares of Liberty Global during the 4th quarter worth $106,000. Private Management Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Liberty Global by 48,746.7% during the 4th quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 548,548 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,748,000 after buying an additional 547,425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Duality Advisers LP acquired a new position in shares of Liberty Global during the 4th quarter worth $1,851,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 37.20% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Global Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of LBTYA stock opened at $16.74 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $16.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.18. Liberty Global Ltd. has a twelve month low of $15.01 and a twelve month high of $20.56. The company has a market capitalization of $6.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.59 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter. Liberty Global had a negative return on equity of 14.07% and a negative net margin of 37.27%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($1.59) EPS. Research analysts forecast that Liberty Global Ltd. will post -0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Liberty Global

In other Liberty Global news, CAO Jason Waldron sold 11,226 shares of Liberty Global stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.29, for a total value of $216,549.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 70,666 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,363,147.14. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CAO Jason Waldron sold 11,226 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.29, for a total transaction of $216,549.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 70,666 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,363,147.14. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director J David Wargo sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.35, for a total value of $520,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 159,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,769,615.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 113,629 shares of company stock worth $2,046,783 in the last 90 days. 11.51% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LBTYA has been the subject of several research reports. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 price target on shares of Liberty Global in a research note on Thursday. TheStreet raised Liberty Global from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Bank of America downgraded Liberty Global from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. HSBC downgraded shares of Liberty Global from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $26.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Liberty Global from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Liberty Global presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.25.

Liberty Global Profile

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.