Uniti Group Inc. (NASDAQ:UNIT) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Uniti Group Inc. (NASDAQ:UNIT) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the nine brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $10.9167.

Several brokerages have commented on UNIT. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Uniti Group from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Uniti Group from $6.50 to $7.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Uniti Group from $9.00 to $11.75 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Barclays boosted their target price on Uniti Group from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, UBS Group set a $12.00 price target on Uniti Group in a report on Tuesday, May 12th.

Uniti Group Stock Performance

Shares of UNIT opened at $9.54 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.32 billion, a PE ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.40. Uniti Group has a 1 year low of $5.30 and a 1 year high of $12.94. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $11.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.96.

Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.68) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.45) by ($0.23). Uniti Group had a net margin of 28.68% and a negative return on equity of 133.07%. The business had revenue of $909.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $884.82 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Uniti Group will post -2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Uniti Group

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in 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. grew its holdings 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 worth $102,743,000 after acquiring an additional 7,441,044 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Uniti Group by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,116,934 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $49,890,000 after purchasing an additional 523,054 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Uniti Group by 23.6% in the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 877,911 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Uniti Group by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,352,729 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,518,000 after purchasing an additional 323,845 shares in 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.