Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (NYSE:TDS) Plans $0.04 Quarterly Dividend

Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (NYSE:TDS) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 26th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of 0.04 per share by the Wireless communications provider on Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%.

Telephone and Data Systems has raised its dividend payment by an average of 2.9% annually over the last three years. Telephone and Data Systems has a dividend payout ratio of -94.1% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect Telephone and Data Systems to earn ($0.19) per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $0.16 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of -84.2%.

Telephone and Data Systems Stock Performance

Telephone and Data Systems stock traded up $0.97 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $34.32. 1,053,178 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,102,842. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $27.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.14. The firm has a market cap of $3.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.18 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. Telephone and Data Systems has a fifty-two week low of $13.69 and a fifty-two week high of $34.57.

Telephone and Data Systems (NYSE:TDS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by $0.19. The business had revenue of $1.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.24 billion. Telephone and Data Systems had a negative net margin of 10.72% and a positive return on equity of 1.12%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.16) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Telephone and Data Systems will post -0.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on TDS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Telephone and Data Systems from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Raymond James raised shares of Telephone and Data Systems from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $51.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th.

About Telephone and Data Systems

Telephone and Data Systems, Inc, a telecommunications company, provides communications services in the United States. It operates through two segments: UScellular and TDS Telecom. The company offers wireless solutions to consumers, and business and government customers, including a suite of connected Internet of things (IoT) solutions, and software applications for monitor and control, business automation/operations, communication, fleet and asset management, smart water solutions, private cellular networks and custom, and end-to-end IoT solutions; wireless priority services and quality priority and preemption options; smartphones and other handsets, tablets, wearables, mobile hotspots, fixed wireless home internet, and IoT devices; and accessories, such as cases, screen protectors, chargers, and memory cards, as well as consumer electronics, including audio, home automation and networking products.