Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (NYSE:TDS) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (NYSE:TDS) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the five ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $53.3333.

TDS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Telephone and Data Systems from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday. Raymond James Financial cut Telephone and Data Systems from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Telephone and Data Systems from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Telephone and Data Systems from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Telephone and Data Systems

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Telephone and Data Systems by 1.4% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,482,147 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $272,898,000 after purchasing an additional 90,097 shares during the period. Carronade Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Telephone and Data Systems by 10.0% during the first quarter. Carronade Capital Management LP now owns 4,623,934 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $194,668,000 after purchasing an additional 420,340 shares during the period. Oaktree Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Telephone and Data Systems by 16.4% during the first quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP now owns 4,292,243 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $180,703,000 after purchasing an additional 603,857 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Telephone and Data Systems by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,049,385 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $166,025,000 after purchasing an additional 58,439 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Telephone and Data Systems by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,415,553 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $99,053,000 after purchasing an additional 66,814 shares during the period. 80.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Telephone and Data Systems Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of NYSE TDS opened at $42.01 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.54. Telephone and Data Systems has a fifty-two week low of $32.60 and a fifty-two week high of $49.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.25 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 3.43 and a quick ratio of 3.42.

Telephone and Data Systems (NYSE:TDS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The Wireless communications provider reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.87) by $1.98. Telephone and Data Systems had a net margin of 6.15% and a return on equity of 5.54%. The business had revenue of $309.45 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $313.28 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.09) earnings per share. Telephone and Data Systems’s revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Telephone and Data Systems will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

Telephone and Data Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th were paid a dividend of $0.04 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $0.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Telephone and Data Systems’s payout ratio is 30.19%.

Telephone and Data Systems Company Profile

Telephone and Data Systems, Inc (NYSE: TDS) is a diversified telecommunications company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Through its subsidiaries, the company provides a broad array of communications services, including wireless voice and data, wireline broadband and voice, cable television, and managed IT and cloud solutions. Its two primary operating units—TDS Telecom and U.S. Cellular—serve residential, business and wholesale customers across the United States.

TDS Telecom focuses on delivering broadband internet, digital voice, video and data communications services in primarily rural and suburban markets.