Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Decreases Stake in Uniti Group Inc. $UNIT

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans reduced its stake in shares of Uniti Group Inc. (NASDAQ:UNIT) by 65.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 312,384 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 580,289 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned approximately 0.21% of Uniti Group worth $2,190,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in UNIT. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of Uniti Group by 20.6% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 10,511 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 1,795 shares in the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Uniti Group during the 3rd quarter worth $75,000. United Services Automobile Association purchased a new stake in shares of Uniti Group during the 1st quarter worth $80,000. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its position in shares of Uniti Group by 461.4% during the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 13,485 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 11,083 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ares Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Uniti Group during the 3rd quarter worth $89,000. 87.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on UNIT. UBS Group set a $12.00 price objective on shares of Uniti Group in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Uniti Group from $8.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Uniti Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 1st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Uniti Group from $9.00 to $11.75 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $11.00 price objective on shares of Uniti Group in a research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.92.

Uniti Group Price Performance

Uniti Group stock opened at $11.04 on Tuesday. Uniti Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $5.30 and a 52 week high of $12.39. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $10.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $8.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.68 billion, a PE ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.44.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.35) by $0.01. The company had revenue of $987.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $930.08 million. Uniti Group had a net margin of 39.61% and a negative return on equity of 2.52%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 236.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Uniti Group Inc. will post -1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Uniti Group Profile

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.