Uniti Group Inc. (NASDAQ:UNIT) Shares Acquired by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Uniti Group Inc. (NASDAQ:UNIT) by 3.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,392,105 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 47,793 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.57% of Uniti Group worth $7,016,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Uniti Group by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 24,834 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $137,000 after buying an additional 2,447 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in Uniti Group by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 16,376 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $90,000 after buying an additional 2,790 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in Uniti Group by 51.3% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 8,460 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 2,870 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Uniti Group by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 109,243 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $601,000 after buying an additional 3,139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in Uniti Group by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 228,227 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,255,000 after buying an additional 3,287 shares during the last quarter. 87.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on UNIT. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Uniti Group from $5.00 to $4.50 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $5.30 price target on shares of Uniti Group in a research note on Friday, May 16th.

Uniti Group Stock Performance

Uniti Group stock opened at $4.53 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.42 and a beta of 1.46. Uniti Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $3.49 and a fifty-two week high of $6.31. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $4.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $4.90.

Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35. Uniti Group had a negative return on equity of 2.60% and a net margin of 5.45%. The business had revenue of $293.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $295.39 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Uniti Group Inc. will post 1.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Uniti Group Company Profile

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.