Optimum Communications (NYSE:OPTU) Shares Down 4.8% – What’s Next?

Optimum Communications, Inc. (NYSE:OPTU)’s stock price traded down 4.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $1.28 and last traded at $1.2850. 9,072,092 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 43% from the average daily volume of 6,339,463 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1.35.

Analyst Ratings Changes

OPTU has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded Optimum Communications from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Citigroup downgraded Optimum Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $1.50 to $0.50 in a research note on Friday, May 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $1.00 target price on Optimum Communications in a report on Friday, May 8th. Raymond James Financial cut Optimum Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Optimum Communications from $2.00 to $1.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Optimum Communications has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $0.95.

Optimum Communications Trading Down 4.8%

The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $1.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1.42. The stock has a market cap of $612.27 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.13 and a beta of 1.15.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Optimum Communications news, General Counsel Michael Olsen sold 20,000 shares of Optimum Communications stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.59, for a total value of $31,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 1,199,781 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,907,651.79. The trade was a 1.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 60,000 shares of company stock valued at $71,800. 43.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Optimum Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $46,002,000. Empyrean Capital Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Optimum Communications during the 4th quarter worth $41,297,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in shares of Optimum Communications during the 4th quarter worth $27,135,000. Millennium Management LLC acquired a new stake in Optimum Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $24,478,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Optimum Communications by 11.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,803,557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,217,000 after acquiring an additional 879,589 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.85% of the company’s stock.

About Optimum Communications

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 approximately five million 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.