Franklin Resources Inc. Has $33.94 Million Position in Liberty Global Ltd. (NASDAQ:LBTYA)

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Liberty Global Ltd. (NASDAQ:LBTYA) by 65.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,659,730 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,051,458 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 0.74% of Liberty Global worth $33,938,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in LBTYA. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in Liberty Global by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 12,717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $268,000 after buying an additional 968 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Liberty Global by 58.1% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,940 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,081 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Liberty Global by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 470,132 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,999,000 after purchasing an additional 1,615 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in Liberty Global by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 323,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,121,000 after purchasing an additional 3,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in Liberty Global by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 34,177 shares of the company’s stock valued at $436,000 after purchasing an additional 3,970 shares during the period. 37.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Liberty Global Price Performance

Shares of LBTYA stock opened at $10.30 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.27. Liberty Global Ltd. has a 12-month low of $10.22 and a 12-month high of $21.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $11.43 and a 200-day moving average of $14.50.

Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported $6.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.92) by $7.25. Liberty Global had a return on equity of 9.83% and a net margin of 23.09%. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.84 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Liberty Global Ltd. will post -1.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of Liberty Global from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Liberty Global from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $24.70 to $12.40 in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.43.

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.