Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) Trading Up 2.6% – Time to Buy?

Uniti Group Inc. (NASDAQ:UNIT)’s stock price shot up 2.6% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $4.88 and last traded at $4.97. 1,098,403 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 59% from the average session volume of 2,662,086 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.84.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UNIT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Uniti Group from $5.50 to $6.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Raymond James upgraded shares of Uniti Group from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $6.00 to $8.00 in a report on Monday, February 24th.

Uniti Group Stock Up 1.9 %

The firm has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 1.70. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $5.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $5.54.

Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.02. Uniti Group had a negative return on equity of 4.12% and a net margin of 8.82%. The firm had revenue of $293.32 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $294.59 million. Equities research analysts anticipate that Uniti Group Inc. will post 1.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Uniti Group

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Uniti Group by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,937,013 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $43,654,000 after buying an additional 62,377 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Uniti Group by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,317,569 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $34,754,000 after acquiring an additional 101,702 shares during the last quarter. Apollo Management Holdings L.P. increased its stake in Uniti Group by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Apollo Management Holdings L.P. now owns 5,239,917 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $28,820,000 after acquiring an additional 231,977 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Uniti Group by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,748,895 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $15,119,000 after purchasing an additional 295,104 shares during the period. Finally, King Street Capital Management L.P. raised its holdings in Uniti Group by 66.7% in the fourth quarter. King Street Capital Management L.P. now owns 2,600,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $14,300,000 after buying an additional 1,040,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.51% of the company’s stock.

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.