Liberty Broadband Co. (NASDAQ:LBRDA) Short Interest Up 29.2% in December

Liberty Broadband Co. (NASDAQ:LBRDA) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 148,200 shares, an increase of 29.2% from the December 15th total of 114,700 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 188,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.8 days. Currently, 0.9% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Gregory B. Maffei sold 125,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.74, for a total value of $9,967,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,435,256 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $114,447,313.44. This represents a 8.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold a total of 196,542 shares of company stock worth $15,834,108 over the last ninety days. 14.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Liberty Broadband

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in Liberty Broadband by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,119 shares of the company’s stock worth $163,000 after buying an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Liberty Broadband during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Liberty Broadband by 161.8% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. American National Bank & Trust bought a new position in Liberty Broadband in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in Liberty Broadband by 116.6% during the 3rd quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 990 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 533 shares in the last quarter. 10.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Liberty Broadband Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LBRDA traded up $0.35 during trading on Friday, hitting $75.53. 265,754 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 100,022. The company has a market capitalization of $10.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.91 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a current ratio of 2.07. Liberty Broadband has a 1-year low of $47.17 and a 1-year high of $100.44. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $80.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.15.

Liberty Broadband (NASDAQ:LBRDA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.65 by ($0.66). Liberty Broadband had a net margin of 78.07% and a return on equity of 8.45%. The business had revenue of $262.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $242.40 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on LBRDA. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $95.00 price target (up previously from $90.00) on shares of Liberty Broadband in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered Liberty Broadband from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $91.00 to $92.00 in a report on Thursday, November 14th.

About Liberty Broadband

Liberty Broadband Corporation engages in the communications businesses. The company’s GCI Holdings segment provides data, wireless, video, voice, and managed services to residential customers, businesses, governmental entities, educational, and medical institutions in Alaska under the GCI brand. Its Charter segment offers subscription-based Internet and video services, and mobile and voice services; and state-of-the-art residential and business services, which includes Spectrum Internet, TV, mobile and voice for small and medium-sized companies; Spectrum Business provides a suite of broadband products and services for businesses and government application; Spectrum Enterprise offers customized fiber-based solutions; Spectrum Reach provides advertising and production for the modern media landscape.