Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Sells 47,944 Shares of Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. $TDS

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lessened its position in Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (NYSE:TDS) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,603,026 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock after selling 47,944 shares during the quarter. Telephone and Data Systems comprises 0.6% of Gamco Investors INC. ET AL’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL’s holdings in Telephone and Data Systems were worth $65,724,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of Telephone and Data Systems by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 22,522 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $923,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in shares of Telephone and Data Systems in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,533,000. Bailard Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Telephone and Data Systems in the fourth quarter worth approximately $217,000. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Telephone and Data Systems in the fourth quarter worth approximately $202,000. Finally, Carlson Capital L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Telephone and Data Systems in the fourth quarter worth approximately $369,000. Institutional investors own 80.00% of the company’s stock.

Telephone and Data Systems Price Performance

NYSE:TDS opened at $40.53 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.48 and a beta of 0.33. Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.60 and a 52-week high of $49.12. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $44.08 and a 200 day moving average of $42.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 3.42 and a current ratio of 3.43.

Telephone and Data Systems (NYSE:TDS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The Wireless communications provider reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.87) by $1.98. The company had revenue of $309.45 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $313.28 million. Telephone and Data Systems had a return on equity of 5.54% and a net margin of 6.15%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.09) earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. will post 0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Telephone and Data Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th were paid a dividend of $0.04 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $0.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Telephone and Data Systems’s payout ratio is 30.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on TDS. Wall Street Zen downgraded Telephone and Data Systems from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday. Raymond James Financial downgraded Telephone and Data Systems from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings raised Telephone and Data Systems from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Telephone and Data Systems from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.33.

Telephone and Data Systems 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.