Stock Update (NYSE:CTL): CenturyLink (CTL) Stock Downgraded at Jefferies

[at TheStreet] – CenturyLink (CTL) stock was downgraded to ‘underperform’ at Jefferies Thursday morning, which said secular challenges are unlikely to abate. Read more on this. CenturyLink, Inc. (CTL) , with a current value of $17.21B, started the session at $31.59. A quick look at the market, the company’s stock traded between $30.75 and $31.61 with its 52-week range being $21.94 to $37.00. Priced at 12.24x this year’s forecasted earnings, CTL shares are relatively inexpensive compared to the industry’s 15.48x forward p/e ratio. The company pays shareholders $2.16 per share in dividend income per year, for a current yield of 6.76%. In a review of the consensus earnings estimate this quarter, 15 sell-side analysts are looking at $0.68 per share, which would be $0.01 better than the year-ago quarter and a $0.07 sequential increase. The full-year EPS estimate is $2.61 which would be a $0.10 setback than last year’s full-year earnings. The quarterly earnings estimate is based on a consensus revenue forecast of the current quarter of $4.43 Billion. If realized, that would be a 0.45% decrease over the year-ago quarter. Recently, Deutsche Bank Initiated CTL at Hold (Feb 24, 2016). Previously, RBC Capital Mkts Initiated CTL at to Sector Perform. The average price target for CTL shares by the analysts covering it is $29.71, which is 5.95% below where the stock opened. See more in (NYSE:CTL) Similar Articles: Stock Update: CenturyLink Inc (NYSE:CTL) – CenturyLink announces global premium supplier partnership agreement with SAP for SAP HANA® Enterprise Cloud service Stock Update: CenturyLink Inc (NYSE:CTL) – Adtran’s AT&T and CenturyLink Opportunity Stock Update: CenturyLink Inc (NYSE:CTL) – CenturyLink Declares Quarterly Cash Dividend