United States Cellular Co. (NYSE:USM) Short Interest Update

United States Cellular Co. (NYSE:USM - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 540,300 shares, a drop of 40.3% from the October 15th total of 904,600 shares. Approximately 3.6% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 162,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.3 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On United States Cellular

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in USM. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in United States Cellular by 3.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,299,323 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $128,349,000 after purchasing an additional 72,843 shares in the last quarter. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of United States Cellular by 13.1% in the first quarter. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,592,792 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $58,137,000 after buying an additional 184,000 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its position in shares of United States Cellular by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 1,480,017 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $54,021,000 after buying an additional 47,267 shares in the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of United States Cellular by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 680,300 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $37,974,000 after acquiring an additional 20,785 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in United States Cellular in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $22,394,000. 18.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

USM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of United States Cellular from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Raymond James upgraded shares of United States Cellular from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $86.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded United States Cellular from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday.

United States Cellular Stock Down 2.3 %

United States Cellular stock traded down $1.49 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $61.94. 134,066 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 237,574. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. United States Cellular has a 12 month low of $32.01 and a 12 month high of $68.31. The business has a 50 day moving average of $58.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $53.65.

United States Cellular (NYSE:USM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $922.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $940.40 million. United States Cellular had a positive return on equity of 1.55% and a negative net margin of 0.79%. The company's revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.26 EPS. Analysts anticipate that United States Cellular will post 0.57 earnings per share for the current year.

About United States Cellular

United States Cellular Corporation provides wireless telecommunications services in the United States. The company offers wireless services, including voice, messaging, and data services. It also provides wireless devices, such as handsets, tablets, mobile hotspots, home phones, and routers, as well as wireless essentials, including cases, screen protectors, chargers, and memory cards; and consumer electronics comprising audio, home automation, and networking products.