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

Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNSL) saw a large increase in short interest in 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 days-to-cover ratio is presently 9.6 days. Approximately 6.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Trading of Consolidated Communications

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Consolidated Communications in the 1st quarter worth about $53,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its stake in Consolidated Communications by 22.1% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 17,922 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $78,000 after acquiring an additional 3,243 shares during the last quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new position in Consolidated Communications in the 1st quarter worth about $83,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL bought a new position in Consolidated Communications in the 1st quarter worth about $110,000. Finally, Rather & Kittrell Inc. bought a new position in Consolidated Communications in the 2nd quarter worth about $112,000. 79.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Consolidated Communications Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CNSL remained flat at $4.62 during midday trading on Wednesday. The company had a trading volume of 227,530 shares, compared to its average volume of 589,268. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.51. Consolidated Communications has a 12 month low of $3.28 and a 12 month high of $4.65. The company has a market capitalization of $547.15 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.78 and a beta of 0.98. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $4.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4.40.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com assumed coverage on Consolidated Communications in a research note on Saturday, July 27th. They set a “sell” rating on the stock.

Consolidated Communications Company Profile

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.