Apollo Management Holdings L.P. Lowers Stock Holdings in Uniti Group Inc. $UNIT

Key Points

• Apollo Management Holdings L.P. reduced its stake in Uniti Group Inc. by selling 299,489 shares, bringing its total holding to approximately 4.94 million shares, which constitutes about 0.5% of its investment portfolio.
• Uniti Group has received varied ratings from analysts, with a recent downgrade from a "hold" to a "sell" by Wall Street Zen, while Wells Fargo raised their price target from $4.50 to $7.50.
• The company reported an earnings miss, with an EPS of $0.36 compared to a consensus estimate of $0.42, and a revenue of $300.73 million, under the expected $304.06 million.

Apollo Management Holdings L.P. reduced its position in shares of Uniti Group Inc. (NASDAQ:UNIT - Free Report) by 5.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,940,428 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 299,489 shares during the period. Uniti Group accounts for about 0.5% of Apollo Management Holdings L.P.'s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Apollo Management Holdings L.P. owned 2.01% of Uniti Group worth $24,900,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in UNIT. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Uniti Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $6,158,000. King Street Capital Management L.P. lifted its stake in Uniti Group by 66.7% during the fourth quarter. King Street Capital Management L.P. now owns 2,600,000 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $14,300,000 after purchasing an additional 1,040,000 shares in the last quarter. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Uniti Group in the fourth quarter valued at $4,230,000. Sona Asset Management US LLC raised its stake in shares of Uniti Group by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Sona Asset Management US LLC now owns 1,200,000 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $6,600,000 after acquiring an additional 600,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invenomic Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Uniti Group in the fourth quarter valued at $3,184,000. 87.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Uniti Group Stock Performance

Shares of UNIT stock traded up $0.19 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $6.44. 2,460,739 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,908,549. Uniti Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $5.68 and a 12-month high of $12.62. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $5.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $953.02 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.41 and a beta of 1.50.

Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $300.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $304.06 million. Uniti Group had a negative return on equity of 1.43% and a net margin of 2.96%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.34 EPS. Uniti Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Uniti Group Inc. will post 1.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on UNIT. Wall Street Zen lowered Uniti Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Uniti Group from $4.50 to $7.50 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $5.30 target price on shares of Uniti Group in a report on Friday, May 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Uniti Group presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $6.70.

Uniti Group Profile

Uniti Group, Inc is a real estate investment trust company, which engages in the acquisition, construction, and leasing of properties. It operates through the following business segments: Uniti Leasing, Uniti Fiber, and Corporate. The Uniti Leasing segment involves mission-critical communications assets on exclusive or shared-tenant basis, and dark fiber network.