Centurylink Inc (NYSE:CTL) – Analysts at Oppenheimer upped their Q3 2019 EPS estimates for Centurylink in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, May 15th, according to Zacks Investment Research. Oppenheimer analyst T. Horan now anticipates that the technology company will post earnings per share of $0.36 for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of $0.35. Oppenheimer also issued estimates for Centurylink’s Q4 2019 earnings at $0.37 EPS and FY2020 earnings at $1.65 EPS.
Centurylink (NYSE:CTL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The technology company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $5.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.71 billion. Centurylink had a negative net margin of 34.62% and a positive return on equity of 6.89%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.25 earnings per share.
Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Guggenheim raised shares of Centurylink from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $10.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. They noted that the move was a valuation call. ValuEngine lowered shares of Centurylink from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 14th. Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of Centurylink from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Bank of America lowered shares of Centurylink from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $14.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, February 26th. Finally, TheStreet lowered shares of Centurylink from a “c” rating to a “d+” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Centurylink presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $16.58.
Shares of CTL traded down $0.21 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $10.33. The company had a trading volume of 10,711,787 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,215,586. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.48 billion, a PE ratio of 8.68, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.72. Centurylink has a 12 month low of $9.64 and a 12 month high of $24.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71.
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.68%. Centurylink’s payout ratio is currently 84.03%.
In related news, insider William Bruce Hanks purchased 10,000 shares of Centurylink stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $10.63 per share, for a total transaction of $106,300.00. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 92,172 shares in the company, valued at approximately $979,788.36. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey K. Storey bought 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $9.83 per share, for a total transaction of $491,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,240,001 shares in the company, valued at $31,849,209.83. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders bought 144,000 shares of company stock worth $1,479,760. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Centurylink in the 4th quarter worth approximately $120,981,000. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of Centurylink by 2,975.0% in the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 6,281,402 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $415,000 after purchasing an additional 6,077,131 shares during the period. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC lifted its position in shares of Centurylink by 63.4% in the 1st quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 10,177,422 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $122,027,000 after purchasing an additional 3,950,360 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of Centurylink by 381.7% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,741,603 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $32,872,000 after purchasing an additional 2,172,500 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Centurylink by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,763,545 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $223,688,000 after purchasing an additional 1,587,647 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.33% of the company’s stock.
About Centurylink
CenturyLink, Inc provides various communications services to residential, business, wholesale, and governmental customers in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Business and Consumer. It offers VPN data network services; Ethernet services; Internet protocol (IP) services; facilities-based Prism TV service, as well as satellite digital television services; CDN services; and Vyvx broadcast services.