Liquidity Services (NASDAQ:LQDT) Cut to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Liquidity Services (NASDAQ:LQDT) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report published on Tuesday.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on LQDT. Craig Hallum raised their target price on shares of Liquidity Services from $28.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Liquidity Services in a report on Tuesday, February 11th.

Liquidity Services Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LQDT opened at $30.63 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $950.72 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.84 and a beta of 1.26. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.60. Liquidity Services has a fifty-two week low of $16.79 and a fifty-two week high of $39.72.

Liquidity Services (NASDAQ:LQDT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The business services provider reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.06. Liquidity Services had a net margin of 6.37% and a return on equity of 20.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Jorge Celaya sold 16,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.10, for a total transaction of $564,014.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 33,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,146,032.80. This trade represents a 32.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Edward Kolodzieski sold 26,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.29, for a total transaction of $813,540.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $601,675.41. This represents a 57.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 170,326 shares of company stock worth $5,710,365. Company insiders own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liquidity Services

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Liquidity Services by 651.4% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 798,688 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,790,000 after buying an additional 692,390 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Liquidity Services by 826.0% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 196,366 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,341,000 after buying an additional 175,161 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Liquidity Services by 57.9% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 457,351 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $14,768,000 after buying an additional 167,767 shares in the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP grew its stake in shares of Liquidity Services by 561.2% in the fourth quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 141,649 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,574,000 after buying an additional 120,226 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of Liquidity Services in the fourth quarter valued at $3,477,000. 71.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Liquidity Services

Liquidity Services, Inc provides e-commerce marketplaces, self-directed auction listing tools, and value-added services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through four segments: GovDeals, Retail Supply Chain Group (RSCG), Capital Assets Group (CAG), and Machinio. Its marketplaces include liquidation.com that enable corporations to sell surplus and salvage consumer goods and retail capital assets; GovDeals marketplace, which provides self-directed service solutions in which sellers list their own assets that enables local and state government entities, and commercial businesses located in the United States and Canada to sell surplus and salvage assets; and AllSurplus, a centralized marketplace that connects global buyer base with assets from across the network of marketplaces in a single destination.