Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) Sees Large Volume Increase – What’s Next?

Shares of Uniti Group Inc. (NASDAQ:UNIT) saw strong trading volume on Wednesday . 2,087,135 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 0% from the previous session’s volume of 2,091,898 shares.The stock last traded at $10.0940 and had previously closed at $9.38.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UNIT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Uniti Group in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Uniti Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Uniti Group from $8.80 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Uniti Group from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Uniti Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, March 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $8.60.

Uniti Group Stock Up 7.8%

The company has a market capitalization of $2.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.50. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $7.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $7.02.

Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The real estate investment trust reported ($1.19) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.46) by ($0.73). The firm had revenue of $917.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $909.44 million. Uniti Group had a negative return on equity of 2.52% and a net margin of 55.60%.The firm’s revenue was up 212.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.35 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Uniti Group Inc. will post 1.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Uniti Group

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in UNIT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Uniti Group by 38.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,202,733 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $162,651,000 after buying an additional 6,494,001 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Uniti Group by 103.1% during the 4th 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 boosted its position in Uniti Group by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,116,934 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $49,890,000 after acquiring an additional 523,054 shares during the period. King Street Capital Management L.P. boosted its position in Uniti Group by 36.4% during the 2nd quarter. King Street Capital Management L.P. now owns 6,000,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $25,920,000 after acquiring an additional 1,600,000 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake 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 worth $23,207,000 after purchasing an additional 877,911 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.51% of the company’s stock.

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.