Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) Sets New 1-Year High – What’s Next?

Shares of Uniti Group Inc. (NASDAQ:UNIT) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $12.45 and last traded at $12.1360, with a volume of 977897 shares. The stock had previously closed at $11.61.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded Uniti Group from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Uniti Group from $6.50 to $7.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. UBS Group set a $12.00 price target on Uniti Group in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $11.00 price target on shares of Uniti Group in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Uniti Group from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.92.

Uniti Group Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $2.94 billion, a PE ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a 50-day moving average of $11.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $8.78.

Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.34) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.35) by $0.01. Uniti Group had a negative return on equity of 2.52% and a net margin of 39.61%.The company had revenue of $987.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $930.08 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.35 earnings per share. Uniti Group’s quarterly revenue was up 236.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Uniti Group Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Uniti Group

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Uniti Group by 38.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,202,733 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $162,651,000 after acquiring an additional 6,494,001 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Uniti Group by 103.1% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,656,558 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $102,743,000 after acquiring an additional 7,441,044 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Uniti Group by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,116,934 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $49,890,000 after acquiring an additional 523,054 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Uniti Group by 23.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,604,599 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $23,207,000 after acquiring an additional 877,911 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Uniti Group by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,352,729 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,518,000 after purchasing an additional 323,845 shares during the last quarter. 87.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.