BlackRock Inc. Has $229.05 Million Position in Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (NYSE:TDS)

BlackRock Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (NYSE:TDS – Get Rating) by 0.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 16,478,184 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after selling 91,539 shares during the quarter. BlackRock Inc. owned about 0.15% of Telephone and Data Systems worth $229,048,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of TDS. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. lifted its position in Telephone and Data Systems by 12.7% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 396,319 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $5,509,000 after acquiring an additional 44,656 shares during the last quarter. Walleye Capital LLC bought a new stake in Telephone and Data Systems in the 2nd quarter valued at $612,000. Trexquant Investment LP grew its holdings in Telephone and Data Systems by 87.0% in the 2nd quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 50,540 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $798,000 after buying an additional 23,514 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Telephone and Data Systems by 10.9% during the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 14,894 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $207,000 after buying an additional 1,463 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Telephone and Data Systems by 25.7% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 306,067 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $4,254,000 after acquiring an additional 62,504 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on TDS. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of 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. TheStreet downgraded shares of Telephone and Data Systems from a “c-” rating to a “d+” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 1st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Telephone and Data Systems from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.00.

Telephone and Data Systems Trading Down 4.8 %

TDS opened at $10.62 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -132.73 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $9.65 and a twelve month high of $21.00. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $12.85.

Telephone and Data Systems (NYSE:TDS – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 17th. The Wireless communications provider reported ($0.38) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.38). The company had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.39 billion. Telephone and Data Systems had a net margin of 1.15% and a return on equity of 1.10%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.11 EPS. Analysts predict that Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. will post -0.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Telephone and Data Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.185 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 14th. This represents a $0.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.97%. This is a boost from Telephone and Data Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. Telephone and Data Systems’s payout ratio is -899.89%.

Telephone and Data Systems Profile

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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.