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

Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNSL) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,690,000 shares, an increase of 8.6% from the August 15th total of 4,320,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 488,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 9.6 days. Approximately 6.2% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Consolidated Communications

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CNSL. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Consolidated Communications by 54.5% in the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,689,559 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,299,000 after buying an additional 596,244 shares during the period. Gardner Lewis Asset Management L P bought a new stake in shares of Consolidated Communications in the second quarter valued at $2,247,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new stake in shares of Consolidated Communications in the fourth quarter valued at $2,103,000. Gabelli Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Consolidated Communications by 2,427.1% in the first quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 379,061 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,638,000 after buying an additional 364,061 shares during the period. Finally, GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC. bought a new stake in shares of Consolidated Communications in the first quarter valued at $1,488,000. 79.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Consolidated Communications Price Performance

CNSL stock remained flat at $4.62 during midday trading on Wednesday. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 227,530 shares, compared to its average volume of 589,268. The company’s 50-day moving average is $4.55 and its 200-day moving average is $4.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.51. Consolidated Communications has a twelve month low of $3.28 and a twelve month high of $4.65. The stock has a market cap of $547.15 million, a PE ratio of -1.78 and a beta of 0.98.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com began coverage on Consolidated Communications in a research report on Saturday, July 27th. They issued a “sell” rating on the stock.

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.