Altice USA Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:ATUS)

Altice USA, Inc. (NYSE:ATUS) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Monday. Investors bought 20,648 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 3,010% compared to the average volume of 664 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Altice USA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ATUS. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in shares of Altice USA by 80.2% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 62,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $127,000 after buying an additional 27,725 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp purchased a new position in Altice USA in the second quarter valued at about $81,000. Empyrean Capital Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Altice USA during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $4,080,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altice USA during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $183,000. Finally, Aristeia Capital L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Altice USA in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $657,000. 54.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on ATUS shares. UBS Group lowered shares of Altice USA from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $4.00 to $2.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Loop Capital cut their price target on shares of Altice USA from $3.00 to $2.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Altice USA in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “sell” rating and a $2.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Altice USA in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $1.50 price objective on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Altice USA from $3.00 to $2.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $1.97.

Altice USA Stock Up 1.9 %

NYSE ATUS traded up $0.03 on Monday, hitting $1.60. 7,290,931 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,513,454. Altice USA has a fifty-two week low of $1.52 and a fifty-two week high of $3.66. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $1.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $2.18. The company has a market cap of $735.94 million, a PE ratio of 170.50, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.48.

Altice USA (NYSE:ATUS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by ($0.05). Altice USA had a negative net margin of 0.62% and a negative return on equity of 1.54%. The business had revenue of $2.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.17 earnings per share. Altice USA’s quarterly revenue was down 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Altice USA will post 0.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altice USA Company Profile

Altice USA, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides broadband communications and video services in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. It offers broadband, video, telephony, and mobile services to residential and business customers. The company's video services include delivery of broadcast stations and cable networks; over the top services; video-on-demand, high-definition channels, digital video recorder, and pay-per-view services; and platforms for video programming through mobile applications.