Mizuho Markets Americas LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Uniti Group Inc. (NASDAQ:UNIT)

Key Points

• Mizuho Markets Americas LLC reduced its stake in Uniti Group Inc. by 5.5%, holding 679,704 shares worth approximately $3.43 million after selling 39,850 shares in the first quarter.
• Uniti Group reported $0.36 earnings per share for the latest quarter, missing estimates, while revenue was $300.73 million, slightly below expectations.
• Analyst ratings for Uniti Group are mixed, with one strong buy, three hold, and one sell rating, reflecting an average target price of $6.70.

Mizuho Markets Americas LLC lowered its holdings in Uniti Group Inc. (NASDAQ:UNIT - Free Report) by 5.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 679,704 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 39,850 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC owned 0.28% of Uniti Group worth $3,426,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Uniti Group by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,996,734 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $186,464,000 after buying an additional 151,070 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its position in Uniti Group by 0.7% in the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 6,689,243 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $33,714,000 after buying an additional 45,724 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Uniti Group by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,317,569 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $34,754,000 after buying an additional 101,702 shares in the last quarter. Apollo Management Holdings L.P. increased its position in Uniti Group by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Apollo Management Holdings L.P. now owns 5,239,917 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $28,820,000 after buying an additional 231,977 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Uniti Group by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,748,895 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $15,119,000 after buying an additional 295,104 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.51% of the company's stock.

Uniti Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:UNIT traded up $0.11 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $6.75. The company had a trading volume of 3,562,291 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,309,414. The stock has a market cap of $998.87 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.53 and a beta of 1.47. Uniti Group Inc. has a one year low of $6.32 and a one year high of $12.62. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $4.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $4.95.

Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $300.73 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $304.06 million. Uniti Group had a net margin of 2.96% and a negative return on equity of 1.43%. Uniti Group's revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.34 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Uniti Group Inc. will post 1.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

UNIT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $5.30 price target on shares of Uniti Group in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Wall Street Zen lowered Uniti Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Uniti Group from $4.50 to $7.50 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Uniti Group currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $6.70.

Uniti Group Company 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.