Knighthead Capital Management LLC Buys New Position in Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. $TDS

Knighthead Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (NYSE:TDS) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 445,695 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock, valued at approximately $18,764,000. Telephone and Data Systems makes up about 1.2% of Knighthead Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rubric Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Telephone and Data Systems during the 3rd quarter worth $62,784,000. Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Telephone and Data Systems in the 3rd quarter worth $55,395,000. VR Advisory Services Ltd bought a new position in Telephone and Data Systems in the 4th quarter worth $23,493,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Telephone and Data Systems by 112.8% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,044,166 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $42,811,000 after purchasing an additional 553,581 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Telephone and Data Systems during the fourth quarter valued at $22,208,000. 80.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Telephone and Data Systems Stock Down 0.1%

TDS opened at $34.33 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $3.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.77 and a beta of 0.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 3.42 and a current ratio of 3.43. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $37.70 and its 200 day moving average is $42.00. Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $33.01 and a fifty-two week high of $49.12.

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

Telephone and Data Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 16th were paid a $0.04 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 16th. This represents a $0.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Telephone and Data Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 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.