Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) Trading Up 3.5% – Here’s Why

Uniti Group Inc. (NASDAQ:UNIT) shares were up 3.5% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $4.88 and last traded at $4.91. Approximately 137,946 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 95% from the average daily volume of 2,517,123 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.75.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James raised shares of Uniti Group from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $6.00 to $8.00 in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $5.30 price target on shares of Uniti Group in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Uniti Group from $5.00 to $4.50 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th.

Uniti Group Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.32 and a beta of 1.59. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $4.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $5.33.

Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.35. The business had revenue of $293.91 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $295.39 million. Uniti Group had a negative return on equity of 4.12% and a net margin of 8.82%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Uniti Group Inc. will post 1.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in UNIT. KBC Group NV purchased a new stake in shares of Uniti Group during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in shares of Uniti Group by 51.3% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 8,460 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 2,870 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Uniti Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $68,000. American Century Companies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Uniti Group during the first quarter worth approximately $65,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB purchased a new stake in Uniti Group in the 4th quarter valued at $71,000. 87.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Uniti Group

Uniti Group, Inc is a real estate investment trust company, which engages in the acquisition, construction, and leasing of properties. It operates through the following business segments: Uniti Leasing, Uniti Fiber, and Corporate. The Uniti Leasing segment involves mission-critical communications assets on exclusive or shared-tenant basis, and dark fiber network.