Shenandoah Telecommunications Co $SHEN Shares Acquired by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Shenandoah Telecommunications Co (NASDAQ:SHEN) by 51.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 739,551 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 250,901 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 1.35% of Shenandoah Telecommunications worth $10,102,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ancora Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Shenandoah Telecommunications in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Shenandoah Telecommunications during the first quarter worth $76,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Shenandoah Telecommunications in the first quarter worth $90,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Shenandoah Telecommunications in the first quarter valued at $158,000. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its position in shares of Shenandoah Telecommunications by 7.8% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 11,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $162,000 after purchasing an additional 855 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SHEN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BWS Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $26.00 price target on shares of Shenandoah Telecommunications in a report on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Shenandoah Telecommunications in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Shenandoah Telecommunications from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Shenandoah Telecommunications news, major shareholder Ecp Fiber Holdings Gp, Llc purchased 13,541 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 10th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $13.29 per share, for a total transaction of $179,959.89. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 3,455,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,920,963.58. The trade was a 0.39% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In the last three months, insiders acquired 15,853 shares of company stock valued at $210,838. Insiders own 4.51% of the company’s stock.

Shenandoah Telecommunications Trading Up 0.7%

Shenandoah Telecommunications stock opened at $10.87 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $12.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.01. Shenandoah Telecommunications Co has a 52 week low of $9.66 and a 52 week high of $15.84. The stock has a market cap of $596.76 million, a PE ratio of -17.25 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Shenandoah Telecommunications (NASDAQ:SHEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported ($0.20) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $89.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.95 million. Shenandoah Telecommunications had a negative net margin of 9.98% and a negative return on equity of 4.25%. Equities research analysts predict that Shenandoah Telecommunications Co will post -0.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Shenandoah Telecommunications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced an annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 7th were paid a $0.11 dividend. This represents a yield of 101.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 7th. This is an increase from Shenandoah Telecommunications’s previous annual dividend of $0.10. Shenandoah Telecommunications’s dividend payout ratio is presently -17.46%.

About Shenandoah Telecommunications

Shenandoah Telecommunications Company, together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of broadband communication services and cell tower colocation space in the Mid-Atlantic portion of the United States. It operates in two segments, Broadband and Tower. The company Broadband segment offers broadband, video, and voice services to residential and commercial customers in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky through hybrid fiber coaxial cable under the Shentel brand; and fiber optic services under the Glo Fiber brand name.