Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Liberty Global Call Options (NASDAQ:LBTYA)

Liberty Global Ltd (NASDAQ:LBTYA) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 5,030 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 264% compared to the typical volume of 1,383 call options.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director J David Wargo sold 55,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.54, for a total transaction of $634,700.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 53,876 shares in the company, valued at $621,729.04. This trade represents a 50.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 4.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC boosted its position in shares of Liberty Global by 9.7% in the first quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 23,644,817 shares of the company’s stock worth $285,866,000 after acquiring an additional 2,097,847 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Liberty Global by 75.0% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 13,423,957 shares of the company’s stock valued at $149,543,000 after buying an additional 5,751,520 shares during the period. Rubric Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Liberty Global by 17.3% in the 1st 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 during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Liberty Global by 6.3% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,832,267 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,782,000 after acquiring an additional 521,750 shares during the period. Finally, Contour Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Liberty Global by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. Contour Asset Management LLC now owns 5,183,133 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,740,000 after acquiring an additional 857,244 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 37.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Pivotal Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $18.00 price objective on shares of Liberty Global in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liberty Global in a research report on Friday. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Liberty Global from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Liberty Global in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $14.37.

Liberty Global Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LBTYA traded down $0.01 on Tuesday, hitting $10.87. The company had a trading volume of 515,452 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,409,569. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The company has a market cap of $3.71 billion, a PE ratio of -1.21 and a beta of 0.93. Liberty Global has a 52-week low of $9.43 and a 52-week high of $13.52. The business has a 50 day moving average of $11.19 and a 200 day moving average of $11.63.

Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 24th. The company reported ($1.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.48) by ($0.59). Liberty Global had a negative return on equity of 28.83% and a negative net margin of 62.12%.The firm had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Liberty Global will post -1.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Liberty Global

Liberty Global plc operates as a leading international telecommunications and television company, offering a wide array of broadband internet, digital cable television, fixed-line telephony and mobile services. Through its extensive fiber and hybrid-fiber coaxial networks, the company delivers high-speed internet connectivity, video on demand and interactive television platforms to residential and business customers. Its service portfolio includes digital voice, managed Wi-Fi solutions, home security and converged connectivity bundles designed to meet evolving consumer and enterprise demands.

The company’s footprint spans key European markets, including the United Kingdom and Ireland under the Virgin Media brand, the Netherlands through Ziggo, Belgium via Telenet, and operations in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Poland and Luxembourg.