Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) Trading Down 5.4% – Time to Sell?

Uniti Group Inc. (NASDAQ:UNIT) shares fell 5.4% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $11.77 and last traded at $11.63. 980,120 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 57% from the average session volume of 2,277,541 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.30.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Uniti Group from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Williams Trading set a $12.00 target price on Uniti Group in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. UBS Group set a $12.00 price target on Uniti Group in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Uniti Group from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $11.00 price target on shares of Uniti Group in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.92.

Uniti Group Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $11.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $8.96.

Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.34) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $987.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $930.08 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 236.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Uniti Group Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Uniti Group

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. KBC Group NV acquired a new position in shares of Uniti Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Uniti Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV bought a new stake in shares of Uniti Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $72,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of Uniti Group by 20.6% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 10,511 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 1,795 shares during the period. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Uniti Group in the first quarter valued at about $100,000. 87.51% of the stock is owned by 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.