CenturyLink (NYSE:CTL) was upgraded by stock analysts at Barclays from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage presently has a $16.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock. Barclays’ target price indicates a potential downside of 5.83% from the stock’s previous close.
A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on CTL. ValuEngine upgraded CenturyLink from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 1st. Zacks Investment Research downgraded CenturyLink from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, November 13th. Bank of America decreased their price target on CenturyLink from $42.00 to $27.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 10th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on CenturyLink from $28.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 10th. Finally, Jefferies Group decreased their price target on CenturyLink to $17.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.87.
Shares of CenturyLink (NYSE CTL) traded up $0.52 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $16.99. The stock had a trading volume of 28,758,812 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,132,358. CenturyLink has a twelve month low of $13.16 and a twelve month high of $27.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $18,130.00, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -5.24 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82.
In related news, Director Virginia Boulet bought 5,095 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $15.48 per share, for a total transaction of $78,870.60. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 42,820 shares in the company, valued at approximately $662,853.60. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Glen F. Post III bought 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 8th. The stock was bought at an average price of $14.17 per share, with a total value of $708,500.00. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders acquired 150,595 shares of company stock valued at $2,154,131. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CTL. Strs Ohio boosted its stake in CenturyLink by 16.0% in the second quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 36,808 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $878,000 after acquiring an additional 5,087 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in CenturyLink by 132.4% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 108,659 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,595,000 after acquiring an additional 61,913 shares during the period. Schwab Charles Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in CenturyLink by 13.0% in the second quarter. Schwab Charles Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,419,896 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $57,788,000 after acquiring an additional 278,747 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its stake in CenturyLink by 17.4% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 305,549 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,297,000 after acquiring an additional 45,207 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in CenturyLink by 7.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,949,130 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $94,318,000 after acquiring an additional 278,943 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.32% of the company’s stock.
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CenturyLink Company Profile
CenturyLink, Inc is an integrated communications company. The Company is engaged in providing an array of communications services to its residential and business customers. Its segments include business, which provides strategic, legacy and data integration products and services to small, medium and enterprise business, wholesale and governmental customers, including other communication providers, and consumer, which provides strategic and legacy products and services to residential customers.
