Graham Capital Management L.P. Boosts Stake in Rogers Communications Inc. (NYSE:RCI)

Graham Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Rogers Communications Inc. (NYSE:RCI) (TSE:RCI.B) by 78.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 50,395 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,110 shares during the period. Graham Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Rogers Communications were worth $1,549,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. FIL Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Rogers Communications by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 33,450,577 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $1,028,336,000 after acquiring an additional 2,244,240 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its holdings in Rogers Communications by 20.6% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 7,736,202 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $237,784,000 after buying an additional 1,320,200 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Rogers Communications by 123.5% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,727,400 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $206,565,000 after buying an additional 3,717,487 shares during the last quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in Rogers Communications by 18.3% in the 4th quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 3,697,645 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $113,217,000 after buying an additional 572,270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in Rogers Communications by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,914,155 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $89,552,000 after buying an additional 17,666 shares during the last quarter. 45.49% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on RCI. Scotiabank cut Rogers Communications from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group raised shares of Rogers Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Rogers Communications in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of Rogers Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.00.

Rogers Communications Trading Up 0.8%

RCI opened at $25.75 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.67, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.64. Rogers Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $23.18 and a 1-year high of $41.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.73.

Rogers Communications (NYSE:RCI) (TSE:RCI.B) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.71 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $3.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.96 billion. Rogers Communications had a net margin of 8.40% and a return on equity of 25.19%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.99 EPS. Analysts expect that Rogers Communications Inc. will post 3.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Rogers Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.3611 per share. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Rogers Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Rogers Communications’s payout ratio is presently 59.66%.

About Rogers Communications

Rogers Communications Inc operates as a communications and media company in Canada. It operates through three segments: Wireless, Cable, and Media. The company offers mobile Internet access, wireless voice and enhanced voice, device financing, device protection, global voice and data roaming, wireless home phone, bridging landline, machine-to-machine and Internet of Things solutions, and advanced wireless solutions for businesses, as well as device shipping and express pickup services; and postpaid and prepaid services under the Rogers, Fido, and chatr brands.