Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc. (CNSL) Director Buys $18,530.00 in Stock

Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNSL) Director Robert J. Currey bought 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $18.53 per share, for a total transaction of $18,530.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 45,995 shares in the company, valued at $852,287.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc. (CNSL) traded down 1.26% on Friday, reaching $18.80. 300,323 shares of the company’s stock traded hands. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $18.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.60. Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.41 and a 12 month high of $30.23. The company has a market cap of $1.33 billion, a PE ratio of 6266.67 and a beta of 0.91.

Consolidated Communications Holdings (NASDAQ:CNSL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.03. Consolidated Communications Holdings had a return on equity of 15.30% and a net margin of 0.09%. The business had revenue of $169.95 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $169.69 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.20 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc. will post $0.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $0.3874 per share. This represents a $1.55 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.24%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 12th. Consolidated Communications Holdings’s payout ratio is 15,500.00%.

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Karp Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in Consolidated Communications Holdings during the first quarter worth about $897,000. Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc. increased its position in Consolidated Communications Holdings by 50.9% in the first quarter. Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc. now owns 44,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,035,000 after buying an additional 14,900 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Consolidated Communications Holdings by 7.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,607,472 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $131,326,000 after buying an additional 380,770 shares during the last quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. increased its position in Consolidated Communications Holdings by 19.0% in the second quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 123,806 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,658,000 after buying an additional 19,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its position in Consolidated Communications Holdings by 1.0% in the first quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 20,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $482,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 67.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CNSL. UBS AG upgraded shares of Consolidated Communications Holdings to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 9th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Consolidated Communications Holdings from a “c” rating to a “d+” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. BidaskClub upgraded shares of Consolidated Communications Holdings from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 8th. Citigroup Inc. upgraded shares of Consolidated Communications Holdings from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 7th. Finally, Cowen and Company reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of Consolidated Communications Holdings in a research report on Friday, July 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.60.

About Consolidated Communications Holdings

Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc is a holding company with operating subsidiaries that provide integrated communications services in consumer, commercial and carrier channels in California, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin.