Uniti Group Inc. $UNIT Shares Sold by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP cut its holdings in Uniti Group Inc. (NASDAQ:UNIT) by 28.1% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,330,830 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 521,014 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Uniti Group were worth $12,472,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Uniti Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. KBC Group NV acquired a new stake in Uniti Group in the 1st quarter valued at $43,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in Uniti Group by 20.6% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 10,511 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 1,795 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV purchased a new stake in Uniti Group in the 4th quarter worth $72,000. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new position in Uniti Group during the fourth quarter worth $78,000. 87.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Uniti Group Trading Down 0.7%

UNIT stock opened at $9.54 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $11.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.95. Uniti Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $5.30 and a 12 month high of $12.94. The company has a market cap of $2.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.40.

Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.68) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.45) by ($0.23). The company had revenue of $909.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $884.82 million. Uniti Group had a net margin of 28.68% and a negative return on equity of 133.07%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Uniti Group Inc. will post -2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on UNIT. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Uniti Group from $6.50 to $7.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Uniti Group from $9.00 to $11.75 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Uniti Group from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Uniti Group from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Uniti Group from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.92.

About Uniti Group

Uniti Group Inc is a real estate investment trust that owns, operates and acquires communications infrastructure assets across the United States. Established in September 2015 through a spin-off from Windstream Holdings, Uniti Group focuses on leasing fiber, small cell networks, cell towers and related infrastructure to service providers, wireless carriers and other enterprises requiring high-capacity connectivity. The company’s assets are designed to support the growing data demands of residential, business and governmental customers, with an emphasis on long-term contractual lease arrangements.

Uniti’s portfolio encompasses an extensive fiber network that spans metropolitan and rural markets, as well as a portfolio of wireless towers and small cell nodes that facilitate mobile network densification and help carriers deploy 5G services.