Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Purchases 27,769 Shares of PLDT Inc. $PHI

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of PLDT Inc. (NYSE:PHI) by 106.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 53,776 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 27,769 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s holdings in PLDT were worth $1,176,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PHI. Jane Street Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of PLDT by 199.9% during the 4th quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 23,632 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $523,000 after purchasing an additional 15,752 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in PLDT by 49.4% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 4,396 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $97,000 after acquiring an additional 1,453 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of PLDT by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 27,170 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $602,000 after buying an additional 3,023 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in PLDT by 23.3% during the fourth quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 16,640 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $369,000 after acquiring an additional 3,145 shares during the period. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in PLDT by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 42,876 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $950,000 after acquiring an additional 854 shares during the period. 2.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on PHI shares. UBS Group lowered PLDT from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 27th. Wall Street Zen downgraded PLDT from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded PLDT to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce”.

PLDT Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE PHI opened at $19.58 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.16. PLDT Inc. has a 12 month low of $19.22 and a 12 month high of $27.93. The stock has a market cap of $4.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.66. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $21.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.30.

PLDT Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 27th will be given a dividend of $0.8414 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 530.0%. This is a boost from PLDT’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.81. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 27th. PLDT’s payout ratio is 47.10%.

About PLDT

PLDT Inc provides telecommunications and digital services in the Philippines. The company operates through three segments: Wireless, Fixed Line, and Others. It offers cellular mobile, Internet broadband distribution, operations support, software development, and satellite information and messaging services; and sells Wi-Fi access equipment.