Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 14,857 Shares of Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. $TDS

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System decreased its position in Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (NYSE:TDS) by 51.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,129 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after selling 14,857 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Telephone and Data Systems were worth $554,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Carronade Capital Management LP raised its stake in Telephone and Data Systems by 239.3% during the 2nd quarter. Carronade Capital Management LP now owns 3,392,500 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $120,705,000 after buying an additional 2,392,500 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new position in Telephone and Data Systems in the second quarter valued at about $22,531,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Telephone and Data Systems in the second quarter worth about $12,068,000. CenterBook Partners LP raised its position in shares of Telephone and Data Systems by 443.5% during the second quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 354,080 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $12,598,000 after purchasing an additional 288,929 shares during the period. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Telephone and Data Systems during the second quarter worth about $9,539,000. Institutional investors own 80.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on TDS. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Telephone and Data Systems from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Telephone and Data Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 1st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Telephone and Data Systems in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Telephone and Data Systems from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Telephone and Data Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Anita J. Kroll sold 870 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.16, for a total transaction of $34,069.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 14.97% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Telephone and Data Systems Trading Up 2.0%

NYSE TDS opened at $44.87 on Friday. Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $31.07 and a 52 week high of $45.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a current ratio of 1.89. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $40.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -41.55 and a beta of 0.32.

Telephone and Data Systems (NYSE:TDS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by $0.13. The company had revenue of $308.52 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. Telephone and Data Systems had a negative net margin of 1.46% and a positive return on equity of 1.15%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.73) EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. will post -0.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Telephone and Data Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th were given a dividend of $0.04 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $0.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Telephone and Data Systems’s payout ratio is -14.81%.

Telephone and Data Systems Company 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.