Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. $TDS Shares Sold by Axecap Investments LLC

Key Points

• Axecap Investments cut its stake in Telephone and Data Systems by 67.4% in Q4, selling 41,910 shares and retaining 20,290 shares worth about $832,000, while overall institutional ownership stands near 80% and several other funds increased their positions.
• Telephone and Data Systems beat Q4 expectations with EPS $0.32 vs. $0.09 and revenue of $330.7M (up 12% YoY); analysts are mixed but the stock carries an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target of $53.33, and the company pays a small quarterly dividend of $0.04 (0.4% yield).

Axecap Investments LLC cut its holdings in Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (NYSE:TDS - Free Report) by 67.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,290 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock after selling 41,910 shares during the period. Axecap Investments LLC's holdings in Telephone and Data Systems were worth $832,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of TDS. Salomon & Ludwin LLC lifted its position in Telephone and Data Systems by 51.3% in the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 681 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in Telephone and Data Systems by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 32,722 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $1,342,000 after acquiring an additional 1,871 shares during the last quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC lifted its position in Telephone and Data Systems by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 112,208 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $4,943,000 after acquiring an additional 9,569 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Telephone and Data Systems by 23.1% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,646 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $108,000 after acquiring an additional 496 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in Telephone and Data Systems by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 53,646 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $2,198,000 after acquiring an additional 590 shares during the last quarter. 80.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Telephone and Data Systems Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Telephone and Data Systems stock opened at $45.24 on Friday. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $44.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.00. The firm has a market cap of $5.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -69.59 and a beta of 0.31. Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $31.07 and a 52-week high of $47.79. The company has a quick ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Telephone and Data Systems (NYSE:TDS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 20th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $330.71 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $319.28 million. Telephone and Data Systems had a negative net margin of 0.21% and a positive return on equity of 2.25%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.10) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. will post -0.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Telephone and Data Systems Dividend Announcement

The company 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Telephone and Data Systems's dividend payout ratio is presently -24.62%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Telephone and Data Systems from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Telephone and Data Systems from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Sunday, March 1st. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Telephone and Data Systems from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Telephone and Data Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $53.33.

Telephone and Data Systems 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.

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