Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNSL) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNSL) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,980,000 shares, a growth of 8.2% from the September 30th total of 3,680,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 389,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 10.2 days. Approximately 5.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Consolidated Communications Price Performance

Shares of Consolidated Communications stock remained flat at $4.63 during trading on Wednesday. The company had a trading volume of 229,858 shares, compared to its average volume of 550,374. Consolidated Communications has a 1 year low of $4.08 and a 1 year high of $4.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.51, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $4.61 and a 200 day moving average of $4.47. The stock has a market cap of $548.33 million, a PE ratio of -1.79 and a beta of 0.97.

Consolidated Communications (NASDAQ:CNSL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported ($0.39) earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $268.71 million during the quarter. Consolidated Communications had a negative return on equity of 25.00% and a negative net margin of 17.74%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Consolidated Communications in a report on Saturday, July 27th. They set a “sell” rating for the company.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Consolidated Communications

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Consolidated Communications by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,288,739 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $22,847,000 after buying an additional 25,226 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Consolidated Communications by 1.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,876,311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $17,056,000 after purchasing an additional 48,609 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its position in shares of Consolidated Communications by 34.1% in the second quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 2,264,899 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,966,000 after purchasing an additional 575,340 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in shares of Consolidated Communications by 27.9% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 619,494 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,723,000 after purchasing an additional 135,035 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Consolidated Communications by 2.8% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 604,060 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,658,000 after buying an additional 16,217 shares during the period. 79.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Consolidated Communications

Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides broadband and business communication solutions for consumer, commercial, and carrier channels in the United States. It offers high-speed broadband Internet access, SIP trunking, and voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) phone services; commercial data connectivity services in various markets, including Ethernet services, private line data services, software defined wide area network, and multi-protocol label switching services; networking services; cloud-based services; and data center and disaster recovery solutions.