O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Decreases Stake in PLDT Inc. (NYSE:PHI)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC cut its stake in shares of PLDT Inc. (NYSE:PHI) by 16.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 65,742 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 13,029 shares during the quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in PLDT were worth $1,456,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new stake in PLDT during the 3rd quarter worth about $79,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of PLDT by 37.2% during the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 13,495 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $363,000 after purchasing an additional 3,659 shares during the period. Kathmere Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PLDT by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 29,035 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $643,000 after purchasing an additional 3,915 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position in PLDT by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 14,448 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $320,000 after buying an additional 1,610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in PLDT by 70.4% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 23,655 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $524,000 after buying an additional 9,772 shares during the period. 2.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of PLDT from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th.

PLDT Trading Down 3.8 %

NYSE PHI opened at $21.29 on Friday. PLDT Inc. has a 1 year low of $21.00 and a 1 year high of $29.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 0.34 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The company has a market capitalization of $4.60 billion, a PE ratio of 8.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a fifty day moving average of $23.19 and a 200 day moving average of $23.58.

PLDT (NYSE:PHI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The technology company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $960.62 million for the quarter. PLDT had a return on equity of 22.11% and a net margin of 12.34%. Research analysts forecast that PLDT Inc. will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current year.

PLDT Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.812 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a dividend yield of 5.4%. PLDT’s payout ratio is 44.66%.

PLDT Profile

PLDT Inc provides telecommunications and digital services in the Philippines. The company operates through three segments: Wireless, Fixed Line, and Others. It offers cellular mobile, Internet broadband distribution, operations support, software development, and satellite information and messaging services; and sells Wi-Fi access equipment.