Uniti Group Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:UNIT)

Uniti Group Inc. (NASDAQ:UNIT) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock investors purchased 20,053 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 1,626% compared to the average volume of 1,162 call options.

Institutional Trading of Uniti Group

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. KBC Group NV bought a new stake in shares of Uniti Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $43,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Uniti Group by 26.2% during the 1st quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC now owns 7,195 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 1,494 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in Uniti Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $95,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Uniti Group by 1,579.8% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 8,802 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 8,278 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Uniti Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $100,000. 87.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on UNIT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Uniti Group from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial set a $16.00 price target on shares of Uniti Group and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Uniti Group in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Uniti Group from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Uniti Group from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Uniti Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.47.

Uniti Group Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ UNIT traded down $0.01 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $6.86. 2,502,906 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,364,954. The stock has a market cap of $1.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.42. Uniti Group has a 1 year low of $5.30 and a 1 year high of $12.94. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $9.42 and a 200 day moving average of $10.43.

Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.68) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.45) by ($0.23). Uniti Group had a net margin of 28.68% and a negative return on equity of 133.07%. The company had revenue of $909.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $884.82 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that Uniti Group will post -2.01 earnings per share for the current year.

About Uniti Group

Uniti Group Inc is a communications infrastructure company that owns, operates and leases fiber-optic networks, wireless infrastructure and other telecommunications real estate. Its assets support broadband providers, wireless carriers, enterprises, government organizations and other communications customers.

The company’s services and infrastructure include dark-fiber leasing, lit fiber transport, network backhaul, fiber-to-the-tower connections, small-cell infrastructure, wireless towers and related colocation or real estate arrangements.