John Malone Buys 12,406,463 Shares of Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LILAK) Stock

Liberty Global PLC (NASDAQ:LILAK) Director John Malone purchased 12,406,463 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $8.63 per share, with a total value of $107,067,775.69. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 21,173,018 shares in the company, valued at $182,723,145.34. The trade was a 141.52% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Liberty Global Price Performance

NASDAQ LILAK opened at $8.13 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $8.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $8.07. Liberty Global PLC has a 52-week low of $4.89 and a 52-week high of $9.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.78, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market cap of $1.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.28 and a beta of 0.72.

Shares of Liberty Global are scheduled to split before the market opens on Monday, June 1st. The 11-10 split was recently announced. The newly minted shares will be distributed to shareholders after the closing bell on Sunday, May 31st.

Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LILAK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.11) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04 by ($0.15). Liberty Global had a negative return on equity of 43.70% and a negative net margin of 11.20%.The business had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LILAK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liberty Global in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen cut Liberty Global from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $8.20.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liberty Global

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LILAK. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Liberty Global by 67.3% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 198,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,233,000 after acquiring an additional 79,917 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Liberty Global by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 77,003 shares of the company’s stock worth $478,000 after acquiring an additional 3,234 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in shares of Liberty Global by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 367,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,280,000 after acquiring an additional 35,844 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Liberty Global by 316.4% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 153,799 shares of the company’s stock worth $955,000 after acquiring an additional 116,861 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Liberty Global by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 158,315 shares of the company’s stock worth $985,000 after acquiring an additional 2,533 shares in the last quarter. 52.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Liberty Global Company Profile

Liberty Global plc is a leading international telecommunications and television company, offering video, broadband Internet, fixed-line and mobile services to residential and business customers. Headquartered in London and operating as an ADR on the NASDAQ under the ticker LILAK, the company focuses on developing advanced broadband networks and delivering entertainment and connectivity solutions across Europe.

The company’s core products include high-speed cable broadband, digital and interactive television, fixed-line telephony, and mobile services.