Short Interest in Liquidity Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:LQDT) Expands By 17.4%

Liquidity Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:LQDT) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,030,000 shares, a growth of 17.4% from the January 15th total of 877,700 shares. Approximately 4.5% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 302,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.4 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Steven Weiskircher sold 10,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.99, for a total value of $367,601.85. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 58,401 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,985,049.99. This represents a 15.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Jaime Mateus-Tique sold 50,000 shares of Liquidity Services stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.22, for a total transaction of $1,661,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 103,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,443,585.20. This represents a 32.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 157,388 shares of company stock worth $5,263,991 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liquidity Services

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Liquidity Services in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Liquidity Services in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in Liquidity Services in the third quarter valued at about $48,000. Aquatic Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Liquidity Services by 257.6% during the fourth quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC now owns 1,788 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 1,288 shares during the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Liquidity Services during the fourth quarter worth about $66,000. 71.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com cut Liquidity Services from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Liquidity Services in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Craig Hallum boosted their target price on shares of Liquidity Services from $28.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th.

Liquidity Services Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LQDT traded up $0.77 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $36.48. The stock had a trading volume of 332,765 shares, compared to its average volume of 281,738. Liquidity Services has a fifty-two week low of $16.58 and a fifty-two week high of $39.72. The firm has a market cap of $1.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.64 and a beta of 1.36. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.51.

Liquidity Services (NASDAQ:LQDT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The business services provider reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) 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%.

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.