43,600 Shares in Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. $TDS Acquired by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (NYSE:TDS) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 43,600 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,836,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in Telephone and Data Systems by 198.9% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 23,315 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $956,000 after purchasing an additional 15,516 shares in the last quarter. Sentinel Dome Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Telephone and Data Systems during the fourth quarter worth $4,920,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its stake in shares of Telephone and Data Systems by 2,779.5% in the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,123 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 1,084 shares in the last quarter. Mariner Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Telephone and Data Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $205,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Telephone and Data Systems by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,249,344 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $51,223,000 after buying an additional 62,688 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on TDS. Raymond James Financial lowered Telephone and Data Systems from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Telephone and Data Systems from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Telephone and Data Systems from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.33.

Telephone and Data Systems Stock Down 2.2%

Telephone and Data Systems stock opened at $37.04 on Wednesday. Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $34.94 and a 1-year high of $49.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 3.43 and a quick ratio of 3.42. The stock has a market cap of $4.22 billion, a PE ratio of 69.88 and a beta of 0.28. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $41.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.64.

Telephone and Data Systems (NYSE:TDS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The Wireless communications provider reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.87) by $1.98. Telephone and Data Systems had a return on equity of 5.54% and a net margin of 6.15%.The business had revenue of $309.45 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $313.27 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.09) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. will post 0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Telephone and Data Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.04 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 16th. This represents a $0.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Telephone and Data Systems’s payout ratio is presently 30.19%.

About Telephone and Data Systems

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.