Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (NYSE:TDS – Get Rating)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Friday after the company announced weaker than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $9.56, but opened at $8.99. Telephone and Data Systems shares last traded at $6.96, with a volume of 831,856 shares.
The Wireless communications provider reported ($0.08) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.06 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.33 billion. Telephone and Data Systems had a return on equity of 1.10% and a net margin of 1.15%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.37 earnings per share.
Telephone and Data Systems Increases Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th were given a $0.185 dividend. This is an increase from Telephone and Data Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.74 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 14th. Telephone and Data Systems’s payout ratio is currently -924.88%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Telephone and Data Systems from $22.00 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 7th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Telephone and Data Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a “sell” rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Telephone and Data Systems has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $15.00.
Institutional Trading of Telephone and Data Systems
Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Telephone and Data Systems by 24.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,495,659 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $284,890,000 after buying an additional 3,981,000 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Telephone and Data Systems by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,889,657 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $165,266,000 after buying an additional 180,301 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Telephone and Data Systems by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,953,873 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $96,662,000 after buying an additional 59,685 shares in the last quarter. Private Management Group Inc. boosted its stake in Telephone and Data Systems by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 3,297,974 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $34,596,000 after buying an additional 497,664 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its stake in Telephone and Data Systems by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 2,415,500 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $25,339,000 after buying an additional 68,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.68% of the company’s stock.
Telephone and Data Systems Trading Down 24.4 %
The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The company has a market cap of $813.09 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -119.49 and a beta of 1.02. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.58.
Telephone and Data Systems Company Profile
Telephone & Data Systems, Inc is a diversified telecommunications company, which engages in the provision of communications services, retail wireless connections, broadband, video, and voice connections. It operates through the following segments: UScellular, TDS Telecom, and Corporate, Eliminations, and Other.
