Investors Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT)

Uniti Group Inc. (NASDAQ:UNIT) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Stock investors purchased 20,053 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 1,626% compared to the average volume of 1,162 call options.

Uniti Group Stock Down 1.5%

NASDAQ UNIT traded down $0.10 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $6.75. The company had a trading volume of 569,568 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,355,353. Uniti Group has a fifty-two week low of $5.30 and a fifty-two week high of $12.94. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.42. The firm has a market cap of $1.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.42.

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. Equities analysts forecast that Uniti Group will post -2.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Uniti Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Uniti Group during the 2nd quarter worth $15,701,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Uniti Group by 2.0% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 870,891 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,169,000 after acquiring an additional 16,971 shares during the period. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC increased its position in shares of Uniti Group by 26.9% during the first quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 505,246 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,739,000 after purchasing an additional 107,000 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP acquired a new position in shares of Uniti Group in the 1st quarter valued at $4,203,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in Uniti Group during the first quarter worth about $1,781,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on UNIT shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Uniti Group in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Uniti Group from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 31st. Barclays upped their price objective on Uniti Group from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. TD Cowen reduced their target price on Uniti Group from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $16.00 target price on Uniti Group and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 29th. One equities research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Uniti Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.47.

Uniti Group Company Profile

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.