Liquidity Services (NASDAQ:LQDT) Reaches New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Liquidity Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:LQDT) hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $36.64 and last traded at $35.99, with a volume of 56586 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $35.91.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on LQDT shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Liquidity Services from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 21st. Craig Hallum boosted their price objective on shares of Liquidity Services from $28.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $27.00 price objective on shares of Liquidity Services in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th.

Liquidity Services Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.25 and a beta of 1.37. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.72.

Liquidity Services (NASDAQ:LQDT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The business services provider reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter. Liquidity Services had a net margin of 5.50% and a return on equity of 18.99%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.26 earnings per share.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Edward Kolodzieski sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.90, for a total transaction of $65,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $501,034.10. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP John Daunt sold 4,546 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.68, for a total transaction of $144,017.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,309 shares in the company, valued at $1,372,029.12. This trade represents a 9.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 101,668 shares of company stock worth $3,331,558 in the last three months. 29.77% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Liquidity Services

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LQDT. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Liquidity Services by 12.2% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 37,110 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $741,000 after purchasing an additional 4,037 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of Liquidity Services by 9.2% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 198,886 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,974,000 after purchasing an additional 16,736 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of Liquidity Services by 5.2% in the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 48,925 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $978,000 after purchasing an additional 2,430 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Liquidity Services during the third quarter worth about $298,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Liquidity Services by 29.9% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,362 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $99,000 after buying an additional 1,005 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.15% of the company’s stock.

Liquidity Services Company Profile

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.