Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys New Holdings in Liberty Global Ltd. (NASDAQ:LBTYA)

Principal Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Liberty Global Ltd. (NASDAQ:LBTYA) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 12,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $215,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LBTYA. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Liberty Global during the 4th quarter valued at about $73,550,000. Rubric Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Liberty Global in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $52,943,000. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC grew its holdings in Liberty Global by 375.4% during the first quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 2,744,184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,432,000 after purchasing an additional 2,166,932 shares during the period. First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. grew its holdings in Liberty Global by 109.4% during the fourth quarter. First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. now owns 1,789,493 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,799,000 after purchasing an additional 934,887 shares during the period. Finally, Oaktree Capital Management LP grew its holdings in Liberty Global by 40.3% during the fourth quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP now owns 2,731,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,530,000 after purchasing an additional 785,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 37.20% of the company’s stock.

Liberty Global Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LBTYA opened at $20.04 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $19.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.73. Liberty Global Ltd. has a 12-month low of $15.01 and a 12-month high of $20.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.32 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.10 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $1.87 billion for the quarter. Liberty Global had a negative return on equity of 10.72% and a negative net margin of 27.03%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Liberty Global Ltd. will post -0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on LBTYA shares. Bank of America upgraded Liberty Global from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $15.50 to $21.30 in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Citigroup started coverage on Liberty Global in a research report on Friday, August 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $25.00 price target on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Liberty Global from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target on shares of Liberty Global in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Liberty Global has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $24.26.

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.