Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (NYSE:TDS) Receives $53.33 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (NYSE:TDS) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $53.3333.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on TDS. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Telephone and Data Systems from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 1st. Zacks Research lowered shares of Telephone and Data Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 1st. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of 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 shares of Telephone and Data Systems from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Telephone and Data Systems

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Telephone and Data Systems by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,392,050 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $262,072,000 after buying an additional 101,482 shares in the last quarter. Carronade Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Telephone and Data Systems by 14.2% in the 4th quarter. Carronade Capital Management LP now owns 4,203,594 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $172,347,000 after buying an additional 523,094 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Telephone and Data Systems by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,049,385 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $166,025,000 after acquiring an additional 58,439 shares during the last quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Telephone and Data Systems in the 3rd quarter worth about $144,732,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Telephone and Data Systems by 2.8% during the 4th 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 hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Telephone and Data Systems Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TDS opened at $45.32 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a current ratio of 2.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $44.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.35. Telephone and Data Systems has a fifty-two week low of $31.07 and a fifty-two week high of $47.79. The firm has a market cap of $5.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -69.73 and a beta of 0.31.

Telephone and Data Systems (NYSE:TDS) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 20th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.23. Telephone and Data Systems had a negative net margin of 0.21% and a positive return on equity of 2.25%. The firm had revenue of $330.71 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $319.28 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.10) earnings per share. Telephone and Data Systems’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Telephone and Data Systems will post -0.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Telephone and Data Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th were paid a $0.04 dividend. This represents a $0.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. Telephone and Data Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -24.62%.

About Telephone and Data Systems

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.