Principal Financial Group Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Liberty Broadband Co. (NASDAQ:LBRDK)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Liberty Broadband Co. (NASDAQ:LBRDK) by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock after selling 609 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Liberty Broadband were worth $630,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Liberty Broadband by 6.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 6,899,331 shares of the company’s stock valued at $533,251,000 after acquiring an additional 415,496 shares during the period. Whitebox Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Liberty Broadband by 29.5% in the 2nd quarter. Whitebox Advisors LLC now owns 2,978,107 shares of the company’s stock valued at $163,260,000 after purchasing an additional 677,785 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Liberty Broadband by 107.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,899,318 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,088,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502,249 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Liberty Broadband by 19.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,062,256 shares of the company’s stock valued at $113,045,000 after purchasing an additional 330,159 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Liberty Broadband by 1.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,014,571 shares of the company’s stock worth $155,736,000 after purchasing an additional 31,484 shares during the period. 80.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com began coverage on Liberty Broadband in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. They set a “sell” rating for the company.

Liberty Broadband Stock Performance

NASDAQ LBRDK opened at $77.60 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.29 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a current ratio of 2.07. Liberty Broadband Co. has a 52-week low of $46.46 and a 52-week high of $101.50. The company has a fifty day moving average of $84.27 and a 200-day moving average of $71.57.

Liberty Broadband (NASDAQ:LBRDK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by ($1.69). The firm had revenue of $262.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $237.41 million. Liberty Broadband had a return on equity of 8.45% and a net margin of 78.07%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.10 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Liberty Broadband Co. will post 6.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Liberty Broadband

In related news, CEO Gregory B. Maffei sold 125,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.74, for a total transaction of $9,967,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,435,256 shares in the company, valued at $114,447,313.44. This represents a 8.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 196,542 shares of company stock worth $15,834,108. Company insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

About Liberty Broadband

Liberty Broadband Corporation engages in the communications businesses. The company's GCI Holdings segment provides data, wireless, video, voice, and managed services to residential customers, businesses, governmental entities, educational, and medical institutions in Alaska under the GCI brand.