Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Optimum Communications (NYSE:OPTU)

Optimum Communications, Inc. (NYSE:OPTU) saw unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock traders bought 18,371 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 2,205% compared to the average volume of 797 call options.

Optimum Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE OPTU traded up $0.01 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $1.10. The company had a trading volume of 2,515,622 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,588,168. The stock has a market cap of $521.74 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.11 and a beta of 1.36. Optimum Communications has a 12 month low of $0.58 and a 12 month high of $2.98. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $1.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1.50.

Insider Activity at Optimum Communications

In other news, General Counsel Michael Olsen sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.59, for a total value of $31,800.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 1,199,781 shares in the company, valued at $1,907,651.79. This trade represents a 1.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 60,000 shares of company stock valued at $80,000. Company insiders own 44.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Optimum Communications

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Optimum Communications in the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,002,000. Empyrean Capital Partners LP bought a new stake in Optimum Communications during the 4th quarter valued at $41,297,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in Optimum Communications during the 4th quarter valued at $27,135,000. Millennium Management LLC bought a new stake in Optimum Communications during the 4th quarter valued at $24,478,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Optimum Communications by 11.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,803,557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,217,000 after acquiring an additional 879,589 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 54.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on OPTU shares. Benchmark lowered Optimum Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $1.00 price objective on Optimum Communications in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Raymond James Financial lowered Optimum Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Optimum Communications from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Evercore set a $1.25 target price on Optimum Communications in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Optimum Communications presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $0.95.

Optimum Communications Company Profile

Altice USA, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides broadband communications and video services in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. It offers broadband, video, telephony, and mobile services to approximately five million residential and business customers. The company’s video services include delivery of broadcast stations and cable networks; over the top services; video-on-demand, high-definition channels, digital video recorder, and pay-per-view services; and platforms for video programming through mobile applications.