Altice USA Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:ATUS)

Altice USA, Inc. (NYSE:ATUS) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Monday. Traders acquired 20,648 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 3,010% compared to the average volume of 664 call options.

Altice USA Stock Performance

Shares of ATUS opened at $1.63 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $749.74 million, a P/E ratio of 163.00, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.48. Altice USA has a one year low of $1.52 and a one year high of $3.66. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $1.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $2.17.

Altice USA (NYSE:ATUS) last released 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 return on equity of 1.54% and a negative net margin of 0.62%. The firm had revenue of $2.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.17 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Altice USA will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Altice USA by 265.9% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 150,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $306,000 after purchasing an additional 109,000 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 27,725 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Altice USA during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $81,000. Empyrean Capital Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Altice USA during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,080,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altice USA during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $183,000. Institutional investors own 54.85% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ATUS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Loop Capital decreased their target price on Altice USA from $3.00 to $2.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Altice USA in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “sell” rating and a $2.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America initiated coverage on Altice USA in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $1.50 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Altice USA from $3.00 to $2.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, UBS Group downgraded Altice USA from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $4.00 to $2.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $1.97.

About Altice USA

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.