Raymond James Lowers Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) to Outperform

Raymond James lowered shares of Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT - Free Report) from a strong-buy rating to an outperform rating in a research report report published on Monday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $6.00 price target on the real estate investment trust's stock, down from their prior price target of $8.00.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Uniti Group from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a sector perform rating and set a $5.50 price objective on shares of Uniti Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th.

Uniti Group Trading Down 14.4 %

Shares of UNIT stock traded down $0.64 on Monday, hitting $3.80. 12,812,103 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,189,996. Uniti Group has a one year low of $3.39 and a one year high of $6.71. The firm's 50 day moving average is $5.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $912.87 million, a PE ratio of 63.34 and a beta of 1.40.

Uniti Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 15.79%. Uniti Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 1,000.17%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Uniti Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in UNIT. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its stake in Uniti Group by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 208,133 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,228,000 after acquiring an additional 2,938 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Uniti Group by 7.2% in the first quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 75,441 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $445,000 after purchasing an additional 5,062 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of Uniti Group by 18.7% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 126,095 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $744,000 after purchasing an additional 19,830 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in Uniti Group by 9.2% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 80,661 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $476,000 after purchasing an additional 6,798 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Uniti Group by 7.2% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,333,486 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $7,868,000 after purchasing an additional 89,402 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.51% of the company's stock.

About Uniti Group

Uniti, an internally managed real estate investment trust, is engaged in the acquisition and construction of mission critical communications infrastructure, and is a leading provider of fiber and other wireless solutions for the communications industry. As of December 31, 2023, Uniti owns approximately 140,000 fiber route miles, 8.5 million fiber strand miles, and other communications real estate throughout the United States.