Barclays Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) Stock

Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) had its price target hoisted by equities research analysts at Barclays from $11.00 to $13.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Barclays‘s target price indicates a potential upside of 13.34% from the company’s previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Williams Trading set a $12.00 price objective on Uniti Group in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. UBS Group set a $12.00 price objective on Uniti Group in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Uniti Group from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Zacks Research upgraded Uniti Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 3rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $11.00 target price on shares of Uniti Group in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.14.

Uniti Group Stock Up 0.6%

NASDAQ UNIT opened at $11.47 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $11.48 and its 200 day moving average is $9.31. Uniti Group has a twelve month low of $5.30 and a twelve month high of $12.94. The company has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 1.40.

Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 11th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.34) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.35) by $0.01. Uniti Group had a net margin of 39.61% and a negative return on equity of 2.52%. The company had revenue of $987.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $930.08 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.35 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 236.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Uniti Group will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Contrarian Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of Uniti Group in the third quarter valued at about $2,783,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Uniti Group by 2,208.3% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 995,163 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,976,000 after buying an additional 952,050 shares in the last quarter. Thematics Asset Management purchased a new position in Uniti Group during the third quarter valued at $3,900,000. TD Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Uniti Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,532,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Uniti Group by 38.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,202,733 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $162,651,000 after purchasing an additional 6,494,001 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.51% of the company’s stock.

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.