Short Interest in Millicom International Cellular SA (NASDAQ:TIGO) Increases By 28.8%

Key Points

• Short interest rose 28.8% in March to 2,514,102 shares as of March 31, representing about 1.5% of shares outstanding and a short-interest ratio of 1.6 days based on average daily volume.
• Analyst sentiment is mostly positive with five Buy, one Hold and one Sell rating, an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $65.64 (notable targets: UBS $70, HSBC $89).
• Millicom recently beat quarterly estimates (EPS $1.50 vs. $1.05 consensus; revenue $1.65B vs. $1.49B), declared a $0.75 quarterly dividend (annualized $3.00, ~3.9% yield), and has seen institutional buying including JPMorgan increasing its stake and Goldman Sachs initiating a ~$50.7M position.

Millicom International Cellular SA (NASDAQ:TIGO - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 2,514,102 shares, an increase of 28.8% from the March 15th total of 1,951,357 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,577,510 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.6 days. Approximately 1.5% of the company's shares are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TIGO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Millicom International Cellular from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Millicom International Cellular from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, March 28th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Millicom International Cellular from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $49.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. HSBC upgraded shares of Millicom International Cellular from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $89.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Millicom International Cellular in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $65.64.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Millicom International Cellular

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Millicom International Cellular by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,713,607 shares of the technology company's stock worth $372,202,000 after buying an additional 253,891 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Millicom International Cellular by 1.7% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,895,215 shares of the technology company's stock worth $140,534,000 after buying an additional 47,194 shares in the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd raised its stake in Millicom International Cellular by 5,283.2% in the third quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 2,731,971 shares of the technology company's stock worth $132,610,000 after buying an additional 2,681,221 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Millicom International Cellular by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,279,268 shares of the technology company's stock worth $126,364,000 after buying an additional 296,319 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. bought a new position in Millicom International Cellular in the first quarter worth about $50,664,000.

Millicom International Cellular Stock Performance

Millicom International Cellular stock opened at $77.85 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $72.52 and a 200-day moving average of $59.39. The firm has a market cap of $13.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.92 and a beta of 0.87. Millicom International Cellular has a 1-year low of $29.67 and a 1-year high of $84.44.

Millicom International Cellular (NASDAQ:TIGO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.45. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.49 billion. Millicom International Cellular had a net margin of 22.62% and a return on equity of 17.07%. Millicom International Cellular's revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.18 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Millicom International Cellular will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Millicom International Cellular Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 8th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 8th. Millicom International Cellular's dividend payout ratio is presently 38.22%.

About Millicom International Cellular

Millicom International Cellular SA, trading under the TIGO brand, is a Luxembourg‐headquartered telecommunications and media company that provides a range of mobile, cable broadband, digital television and enterprise services. Through its integrated infrastructure, the company delivers voice and data connectivity, high‐speed internet access and pay‐television packages to millions of customers, supported by ongoing investments in network coverage and capacity.

Established in 1990 by Swedish investor Jan Stenbeck, Millicom has grown into a multi‐regional operator focused primarily on Central and South America.

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