Vanguard Group Inc. Increases Stock Position in Uniti Group Inc. $UNIT

Key Points

• Vanguard Group increased its stake in Uniti Group by 38.9% in the fourth quarter, adding more than 6.4 million shares and bringing its total holding to 23.2 million shares, or 15.68% of the company.
• Institutional interest in Uniti remains high, with hedge funds and other institutional investors owning 87.51% of the stock; several firms also initiated or expanded positions during the period.
• Analysts are mixed on the stock: the consensus rating is Hold with an average target price of $8.92, even as some firms raised price targets and Raymond James kept a Strong Buy rating.

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Uniti Group Inc. (NASDAQ:UNIT - Free Report) by 38.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 23,202,733 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 6,494,001 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 15.68% of Uniti Group worth $162,651,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Contrarian Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in Uniti Group during the third quarter worth about $2,783,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in Uniti Group by 2,208.3% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 995,163 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $6,976,000 after buying an additional 952,050 shares during the period. Thematics Asset Management purchased a new position in Uniti Group during the third quarter worth about $3,900,000. TD Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Uniti Group during the third quarter worth about $1,532,000. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund purchased a new position in Uniti Group during the third quarter worth about $436,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.51% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on UNIT shares. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Uniti Group from $8.80 to $9.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Uniti Group from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Zacks Research raised shares of Uniti Group from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 3rd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Uniti Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Sunday, March 1st. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating and set a $11.00 price target on shares of Uniti Group in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $8.92.

Uniti Group Stock Performance

Shares of UNIT opened at $11.28 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.74 billion, a PE ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.44. Uniti Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $5.30 and a 1 year high of $12.18. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $9.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $7.91.

Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The real estate investment trust reported ($1.19) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.46) by ($0.73). The business had revenue of $917.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $909.44 million. Uniti Group had a negative return on equity of 2.52% and a net margin of 55.60%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 212.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.35 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Uniti Group Inc. will post -1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

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.

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