Short Interest in Millicom International Cellular S.A. (NASDAQ:TIGO) Expands By 71.7%

Millicom International Cellular S.A. (NASDAQ:TIGO) was the target of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,380,000 shares, a growth of 71.7% from the February 28th total of 803,900 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 567,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days. Currently, 1.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Trading of Millicom International Cellular

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in TIGO. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in Millicom International Cellular by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 9,075 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $227,000 after buying an additional 545 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Millicom International Cellular by 5.3% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 14,815 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $402,000 after acquiring an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Millicom International Cellular by 22.2% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 7,030 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $176,000 after purchasing an additional 1,277 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Millicom International Cellular by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 154,661 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,868,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Millicom International Cellular by 69.5% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,767 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 1,544 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TIGO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Millicom International Cellular from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Millicom International Cellular from $36.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Millicom International Cellular in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $32.00 price objective for the company. HSBC upgraded Millicom International Cellular from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $34.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Millicom International Cellular from $37.30 to $37.90 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $33.98.

Millicom International Cellular Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of TIGO opened at $30.20 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.66. Millicom International Cellular has a 52 week low of $19.50 and a 52 week high of $31.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.13 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $27.98 and a 200-day moving average of $26.84.

Millicom International Cellular Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced an annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 8th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 8th. This represents a yield of 3.9%. Millicom International Cellular’s dividend payout ratio is presently 202.70%.

About Millicom International Cellular

Millicom International Cellular SA provides cable and mobile services in Latin America. It offers mobile services, including mobile data and voice, and short message services; and mobile financial services, such as payments, money transfers, international remittances, savings, real-time loans, and micro-insurance.