Liberty Latin America (NASDAQ:LILA) Trading 4.9% Higher – Still a Buy?

Liberty Latin America Ltd. (NASDAQ:LILA)’s share price traded up 4.9% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $7.95 and last traded at $7.90. Approximately 138,990 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 476,266 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.53.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley set a $7.00 price objective on Liberty Latin America in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liberty Latin America in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.00.

Liberty Latin America Stock Down 0.7%

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $7.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $7.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.02 and a beta of 0.74.

Liberty Latin America (NASDAQ:LILA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.11) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by ($0.14). Liberty Latin America had a negative return on equity of 45.66% and a negative net margin of 11.20%.The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Liberty Latin America Ltd. will post -0.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Liberty Latin America

In other news, Director Charles H. R. Bracken purchased 4,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $20.50 per share, with a total value of $100,450.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,867 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $386,773.50. This represents a 35.08% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Balan Nair purchased 164,914 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $6.07 per share, with a total value of $1,001,027.98. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,276,798 shares in the company, valued at $19,890,163.86. This trade represents a 5.30% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders purchased 14,820,228 shares of company stock valued at $121,249,631. 6.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liberty Latin America

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LILA. Rubric Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Liberty Latin America by 93.0% in the first quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 3,750,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,806,935 shares in the last quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Liberty Latin America during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $7,017,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Liberty Latin America by 318.7% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 940,207 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,948,000 after buying an additional 715,641 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC grew its stake in Liberty Latin America by 52.2% in the 3rd quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 1,411,830 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,704,000 after buying an additional 484,016 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in Liberty Latin America by 604.1% in the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 398,371 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,430,000 after buying an additional 341,794 shares in the last quarter. 18.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Liberty Latin America

Liberty Latin America is a telecommunications company that provides video, broadband internet, telephony and mobile services across Latin America and the Caribbean. The company’s operations span consumer and business markets, offering cable television packages, high-speed broadband connections, fixed-line voice services and wireless data plans. Through its brands, including Flow in several Caribbean territories and VTR in Chile, Liberty Latin America focuses on delivering converged digital solutions designed to meet both residential and enterprise needs.

Formed in 2018 as a spin-off from Liberty Global, Liberty Latin America built its initial footprint by integrating legacy assets acquired from Cable & Wireless Communications and Columbus Communications.