Cerberus Capital Management L.P. Takes Position in Optimum Communications, Inc. $OPTU

Cerberus Capital Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Optimum Communications, Inc. (NYSE:OPTU) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 3,940,785 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,502,000. Optimum Communications makes up 0.2% of Cerberus Capital Management L.P.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Man Group plc grew its position in shares of Optimum Communications by 6.4% during the second quarter. Man Group plc now owns 101,736 shares of the company’s stock valued at $218,000 after purchasing an additional 6,137 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in shares of Optimum Communications by 1.2% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 644,142 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,713,000 after purchasing an additional 7,470 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Optimum Communications by 41.6% during the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 28,667 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 8,420 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its position in shares of Optimum Communications by 28.0% during the third quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 43,905 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,000 after purchasing an additional 9,598 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Optimum Communications during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on OPTU. UBS Group cut their price objective on Optimum Communications from $2.00 to $1.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Citigroup lowered Optimum Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $1.50 to $0.50 in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Weiss Ratings lowered Optimum Communications from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Raymond James Financial lowered Optimum Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Optimum Communications from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Optimum Communications presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $0.95.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, General Counsel Michael Olsen sold 20,000 shares of Optimum Communications stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.59, for a total value of $31,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 1,199,781 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,907,651.79. This trade represents a 1.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 60,000 shares of company stock valued at $80,000 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 43.40% of the company’s stock.

Optimum Communications Trading Down 2.9%

OPTU opened at $1.25 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $596.68 million, a P/E ratio of -0.13 and a beta of 1.36. Optimum Communications, Inc. has a 12 month low of $0.58 and a 12 month high of $2.98. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $1.18 and a 200 day moving average of $1.47.

Optimum Communications Profile

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.