Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Purchases New Position in Liquidity Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:LQDT)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new stake in Liquidity Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:LQDT) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 27,749 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $478,000. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. owned approximately 0.09% of Liquidity Services as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LQDT. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in Liquidity Services by 7.5% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 67,100 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,149,000 after purchasing an additional 4,700 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. lifted its stake in Liquidity Services by 3.8% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 26,305 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $450,000 after buying an additional 973 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Liquidity Services by 50.3% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 15,553 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $266,000 after buying an additional 5,207 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Liquidity Services by 1.2% in the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 78,931 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,351,000 after buying an additional 959 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its stake in Liquidity Services by 14.5% in the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 22,995 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $394,000 after buying an additional 2,906 shares during the last quarter. 71.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LQDT has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com cut Liquidity Services from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $27.00 price objective on shares of Liquidity Services in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, TheStreet cut Liquidity Services from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th.

Liquidity Services Price Performance

Liquidity Services stock opened at $17.46 on Wednesday. Liquidity Services, Inc. has a 12 month low of $12.60 and a 12 month high of $21.10. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $536.37 million, a PE ratio of 29.10 and a beta of 1.34.

Liquidity Services (NASDAQ:LQDT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The business services provider reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.16 by ($0.02). Liquidity Services had a return on equity of 17.62% and a net margin of 6.03%. The company had revenue of $71.33 million for the quarter.

Insider Transactions at Liquidity Services

In other news, Director George H. Ellis sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.50, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 19,402 shares in the company, valued at $339,535. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 29.77% 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.