Lazard Asset Management LLC Acquires 469,078 Shares of Uniti Group Inc. (NASDAQ:UNIT)

Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Uniti Group Inc. (NASDAQ:UNIT - Free Report) by 67.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,167,553 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 469,078 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC owned about 0.48% of Uniti Group worth $6,420,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. LMR Partners LLP bought a new stake in Uniti Group during the 4th quarter valued at $4,230,000. Invenomic Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Uniti Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,184,000. King Street Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $14,300,000 after acquiring an additional 1,040,000 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Uniti Group by 32.9% during the fourth quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 446,804 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,457,000 after purchasing an additional 110,656 shares during the period. Finally, Caption Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Uniti Group by 153.3% during the fourth quarter. Caption Management LLC now owns 38,600 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $212,000 after purchasing an additional 111,000 shares during the period. 87.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on UNIT shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Uniti Group from $5.00 to $4.50 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Raymond James raised Uniti Group from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $6.00 to $8.00 in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating and set a $5.30 target price on shares of Uniti Group in a report on Friday, May 16th.

Uniti Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ UNIT traded down $0.07 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $4.43. 327,103 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,518,344. Uniti Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $2.57 and a 12-month high of $6.31. The firm has a market cap of $1.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.79 and a beta of 1.59. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $4.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.32.

Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.35. Uniti Group had a negative return on equity of 4.12% and a net margin of 8.82%. The business had revenue of $293.91 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $295.39 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. The business's revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Uniti Group Inc. will post 1.28 earnings per share for the current year.

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.