Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Optimum Communications (NYSE:OPTU)

Optimum Communications, Inc. (NYSE:OPTU) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Monday. Investors acquired 18,371 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 2,205% compared to the typical daily volume of 797 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Optimum Communications from $2.00 to $1.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Evercore set a $1.25 price objective on shares of Optimum Communications in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $1.00 price objective on shares of Optimum Communications in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Optimum Communications from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lowered shares of Optimum Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Optimum Communications presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $0.95.

Optimum Communications Price Performance

Shares of OPTU traded up $0.01 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $1.10. The stock had a trading volume of 2,515,622 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,588,168. Optimum Communications has a 52 week low of $0.58 and a 52 week high of $2.98. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $1.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $1.50. The company has a market capitalization of $521.74 million, a P/E ratio of -0.11 and a beta of 1.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Optimum Communications news, General Counsel Michael Olsen sold 20,000 shares of Optimum Communications stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.59, for a total transaction of $31,800.00. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 1,199,781 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,907,651.79. The trade was a 1.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 60,000 shares of company stock worth $80,000. 44.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Optimum Communications

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Optimum Communications in the 4th quarter worth $46,002,000. Empyrean Capital Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of Optimum Communications in the 4th quarter worth $41,297,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in shares of Optimum Communications in the 4th quarter worth $27,135,000. Millennium Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Optimum Communications in the 4th quarter worth $24,478,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Optimum Communications by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,803,557 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,217,000 after buying an additional 879,589 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 54.85% of the company’s stock.

About Optimum Communications

Altice USA, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides broadband communications and video services in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. It offers broadband, video, telephony, and mobile services to approximately five million residential and business customers. The company’s video services include delivery of broadcast stations and cable networks; over the top services; video-on-demand, high-definition channels, digital video recorder, and pay-per-view services; and platforms for video programming through mobile applications.