3 High Forward Dividend Yield Telecom Stocks
- By Alberto Abaterusso
Shareholders of the following telecommunication companies are receiving a compelling forward dividend yield, one that is beating the dividend yield of the S&P 500 index by over 200%. The dividend yield of the index is 1.94% as of Wednesday.
The forward dividend yields of the following stocks are based on their share prices at market close on Wednesday.
Consolidated Communications Holdings Inc.'s (CNSL) share price was $12.9 at close on Wednesday. Following a 4% decline for the 52 weeks through Nov. 14, the forward dividend yield went up to 11.91%, outperforming the industry by 236.44%. The stock has a market capitalization of approximately $918.42 million, a price-book ratio of 1.89 compared to an industry median of 2.07 and a price-earnings ratio of 11.03 versus an industry median of 19.33.
The share price is slightly above the 200-, 100- and 50-day simple moving average lines. The 52-week range is $10.31 to $14.55.
Consolidated Communications provides integrated communications services to residential and business customers in the U.S. As of the end of 2017, the company accounted for approximately 972,000 voice connections, about 784,000 data connections and roughly 103,000 video connections.
GuruFocus assigned it a financial strength rating of 3 out of 10 and a profitability and growth rating of 7 out of 10.
The stock has a recommendation rating of 2.2 out of 5 and an average target price of $13.50 per share.
CenturyLink Inc. (CTL) closed at $19.07 per share on Wednesday. For the 52 weeks through Nov. 14, the share price climbed 29%. The forward dividend yield is 11.42%. The stock has a market capitalization of about $20.61 billion, a price-book ratio of 0.9 versus an industry median of 4.02 and a price-earnings ratio of 8.15 versus an industry median of 19.16.
The share price is below the 200-, 100- and 50-day simple moving average lines. The share price at close on Nov. 14 is 45% higher than the 52-week low of $13.16 and 27% lower than the 52-week high of $24.2.
CenturyLink provides communication services to residential, business, wholesale and government customers primarily in the United States.
In 2017, the company operated 10.3 million total access lines and the number of broadband subscribers reached 5.7 million.
As of Sept. 30, the company has a current ratio of 0.78 versus an industry median of 0.92, a total debt-to-equity ratio of 160.19 versus an industry median of 82.60 and a trailing 12-month interest coverage ratio of 1.43 versus an industry median of 44.94.
Concerning the company's profitability and growth, CenturyLink has a five-year average gross margin of 56.18% versus an industry median of 70%, a five-years EBITDA of 36.92% compared to an industry average of 51.81%, an operating margin of 12.14% versus an industry median of 35.5% and a net profit margin of 2.61% compared to an industry median of 24.91%.
During the third quarter, the T Rowe Price Equity Income Fund reduced its stake by 22% to 2,340,000 shares, Mario Gabelli decreased his position by 20.29% to 104,500 shares, Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney & Strauss reduced its holding by 0.7% to 141 shares and Mason Hawkins' Southeastern Asset Management decreased its holding by 3.89% to 68,134,589 shares.
John Paulson sold out.
Joel Greenblatt started a position, purchasing 919,955 shares.
The recommendation rating is 2.7 out of 5, and the average target price is $21.27 per share.
The share price of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) was $30.51 at close on Wednesday. The forward dividend yield is 6.56% versus an industry median of 3.54%. For the 52 weeks through Nov. 14, the share price has declined 12%. The market capitalization is approximately $222.05 billion, the price-book ratio is 1.21 versus an industry median of 2.07 and the price-earnings ratio is 5.78 versus an industry median of 19.33.
The share price is below the 200-, 100- and 50-day simple moving average lines. The 52-week range is $28.85 to $39.33 per share.
AT&T provices communication and digital entertainment services.
GuruFocus assigned a financial strength rating of 4 out of 10 and a profitability and growth rating of 7 out of 10.
The company is reporting 7.278 billion shares outstanding, of which 59.18% is held by institutions and 0.11% is held by insiders.
Among the top institutional shareholders of AT&T, the Vanguard Group Inc., Blackrock Inc., State Street Corp. and Newport Trust Co. have the largest position as of June 29.
The recommendation rating is 2.6 out of 5 and the average target price is $34.48 per share.
Disclosure: I have no positions in any securities mentioned in this article.
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This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
