Barclays Initiates Coverage on Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT)

Equities researchers at Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) in a note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage set an “equal weight” rating and a $6.00 price target on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective indicates a potential upside of 2.74% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on UNIT. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Uniti Group from $4.50 to $7.50 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Zacks Research lowered Uniti Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Wall Street Zen cut Uniti Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Uniti Group in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $6.56.

Uniti Group Trading Up 0.9%

NASDAQ:UNIT opened at $5.84 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $864.20 million, a PE ratio of 21.23 and a beta of 1.56. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $6.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.22. Uniti Group has a 12-month low of $5.66 and a 12-month high of $12.62.

Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $300.73 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $304.06 million. Uniti Group had a negative return on equity of 1.43% and a net margin of 2.96%.The company’s revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.34 EPS. Uniti Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Uniti Group will post 1.28 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Uniti Group

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of UNIT. KBC Group NV purchased a new stake in Uniti Group during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Uniti Group by 775.7% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 7,811 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 6,919 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Uniti Group in the second quarter worth about $45,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of Uniti Group by 20.6% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 10,511 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 1,795 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Uniti Group in the first quarter valued at about $65,000. 87.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.