Rogers Communication (NYSE:RCI) Stock Price Down 5% After Analyst Downgrade

Key Points

• TD Securities downgraded Rogers from "buy" to "hold," sending the stock down about 5% to roughly $36 on Thursday; intraday low was $35.83 with volume of 494,972 shares (down ~55% vs. average).
• Analyst consensus is a "Hold" (4 buys, 5 holds, 1 sell) with an average price target of $36.00, reflecting muted expectations despite recent coverage divergence.
• Rogers beat quarterly EPS estimates ($1.08 vs. $0.98) but missed revenue expectations ($4.49B vs. $5.94B), and pays a $0.50 quarterly dividend (5.5% yield) with a low P/E of ~3.9.

Rogers Communication, Inc. (NYSE:RCI - Get Free Report) TSE: RCI.B's stock price traded down 5% on Thursday after TD Securities downgraded the stock from a buy rating to a hold rating. The company traded as low as $35.83 and last traded at $36.2370. 494,972 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 55% from the average session volume of 1,094,105 shares. The stock had previously closed at $38.14.

RCI has been the topic of a number of other research reports. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Rogers Communication in a report on Friday, January 30th. Desjardins downgraded shares of Rogers Communication from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Barclays reiterated a "positive" rating and issued a $37.00 price objective on shares of Rogers Communication in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Rogers Communication in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Rogers Communication from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $36.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Rogers Communication

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its holdings in Rogers Communication by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 8,279,443 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $245,489,000 after acquiring an additional 280,536 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Rogers Communication by 261.2% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 2,102,076 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $72,280,000 after purchasing an additional 1,520,062 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in Rogers Communication by 16.9% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 395,919 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $13,633,000 after purchasing an additional 57,159 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Rogers Communication by 18.0% during the third quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 8,344,925 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $287,340,000 after purchasing an additional 1,272,065 shares during the period. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Rogers Communication in the third quarter worth approximately $4,253,000. Institutional investors own 45.49% of the company's stock.

Rogers Communication Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $38.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.57. The stock has a market cap of $19.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.90, a PEG ratio of 5.10 and a beta of 0.72.

Rogers Communication (NYSE:RCI - Get Free Report) TSE: RCI.B last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The Wireless communications provider reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.10. Rogers Communication had a return on equity of 14.22% and a net margin of 32.29%.The company had revenue of $4.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. Rogers Communication's revenue was up 12.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Rogers Communication, Inc. will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Rogers Communication Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. Rogers Communication's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.89%.

About Rogers Communication

Rogers Communications Inc is a Canadian integrated communications and media company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The company provides a broad range of telecommunications services to residential and business customers across Canada, including wireless voice and data services, cable television, high-speed internet, and home phone services. In the enterprise market it offers managed IT, data center and cloud solutions, networking and connectivity services targeted to small businesses, large enterprises and public sector clients.

In addition to connectivity services, Rogers operates a significant media portfolio that includes national and regional television and radio assets, sports broadcasting properties and other content businesses.

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