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

Millicom International Cellular SA (NASDAQ:TIGO) saw a significant increase in short interest in 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 sold short.

Millicom International Cellular Price Performance

Shares of TIGO opened at $77.85 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.92 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.88 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. Millicom International Cellular has a twelve month low of $29.67 and a twelve month high of $84.44.

Millicom International Cellular (NASDAQ:TIGO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.45. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.49 billion. Millicom International Cellular had a net margin of 22.62% and a return on equity of 17.07%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.18 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Millicom International Cellular will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Millicom International Cellular Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 8th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 8th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Millicom International Cellular’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.22%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Millicom International Cellular

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Millicom International Cellular by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,713,607 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $372,202,000 after acquiring an additional 253,891 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Millicom International Cellular by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,895,215 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $140,534,000 after acquiring an additional 47,194 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd lifted its stake in Millicom International Cellular by 5,283.2% during the 3rd quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 2,731,971 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $132,610,000 after acquiring an additional 2,681,221 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Millicom International Cellular by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,279,268 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $126,364,000 after acquiring an additional 296,319 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. bought a new position in Millicom International Cellular during the 1st quarter valued at about $50,664,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on TIGO. HSBC raised shares of Millicom International Cellular from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $89.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Millicom International Cellular in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed a “positive” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Millicom International Cellular in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. UBS Group raised shares of Millicom International Cellular from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $49.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Millicom International Cellular from $43.00 to $51.20 and gave the company a “sector underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.64.

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.