Altice USA (NYSE:ATUS) Shares Down 3.6% – Here’s What Happened

Altice USA, Inc. (NYSE:ATUS) was down 3.6% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $2.40 and last traded at $2.41. Approximately 247,415 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 93% from the average daily volume of 3,478,171 shares. The stock had previously closed at $2.50.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on ATUS. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Altice USA from $6.00 to $3.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Altice USA from $2.50 to $3.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Altice USA presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $2.30.

Altice USA Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $1.11 billion, a PE ratio of -6.51 and a beta of 1.53. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $2.53 and its 200-day moving average is $2.21.

Altice USA (NYSE:ATUS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04 by ($0.13). Altice USA had a negative net margin of 1.85% and a negative return on equity of 1.54%. The company had revenue of $2.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.15 earnings per share. Altice USA’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Altice USA, Inc. will post -0.01 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Altice USA news, Director Alt S.A.R.L. Next sold 805,227 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.50, for a total value of $19,728,061.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 38,860,998 shares in the company, valued at $952,094,451. The trade was a 2.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold 15,299,331 shares of company stock valued at $374,833,610 in the last three months. 52.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Altice USA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Altice USA by 1,617.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,902,834 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,681,000 after acquiring an additional 1,792,054 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Altice USA by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,682,757 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,602,000 after purchasing an additional 191,508 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Altice USA by 120.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,527,424 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,756,000 after buying an additional 834,030 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd increased its holdings in Altice USA by 476.7% in the 3rd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 468,969 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,154,000 after purchasing an additional 387,655 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wolverine Trading LLC purchased a new stake in Altice USA in the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.85% of the company’s stock.

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.