Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT)

Key Points

• Uniti Group Inc. experienced a significant spike in options trading, with a reported 3,189% increase in call options, totaling 58,700 contracts traded.
• The stock price of Uniti Group fell $0.80 to $7.30 on Tuesday, with a trading volume of 3,777,453 shares, surpassing its average volume.
• Analysts have lowered Uniti Group's price targets, with Citigroup setting it at $5.30 and Wells Fargo reducing it to $4.50.

Uniti Group Inc. (NASDAQ:UNIT - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Investors acquired 58,700 call options on the stock. Thisrepresentsanincreaseof3,189% compared to the average volume of 1,785 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Uniti Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Savant Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Uniti Group by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 63,592 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $275,000 after buying an additional 1,601 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Uniti Group by 10.9% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 24,834 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $137,000 after buying an additional 2,447 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Uniti Group by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 109,243 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $601,000 after buying an additional 3,139 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Uniti Group by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 228,227 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,255,000 after buying an additional 3,287 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in Uniti Group by 23.2% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 22,814 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $125,000 after purchasing an additional 4,293 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.51% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on UNIT shares. Wall Street Zen cut Uniti Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $5.30 price target on shares of Uniti Group in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Uniti Group from $4.50 to $7.50 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Uniti Group currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $6.70.

Uniti Group Price Performance

UNIT traded down $0.66 on Friday, reaching $6.35. 3,285,058 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,138,691. The firm has a market capitalization of $939.67 million, a PE ratio of 23.08 and a beta of 1.47. The company's 50-day moving average price is $4.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $4.94. Uniti Group has a fifty-two week low of $6.32 and a fifty-two week high of $12.62.

Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT - Get Free Report) last issued 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 analyst estimates of $304.06 million. Uniti Group had a net margin of 2.96% and a negative return on equity of 1.43%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.34 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Uniti Group will post 1.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.