Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Altice USA Call Options (NYSE:ATUS)

Altice USA, Inc. (NYSE:ATUS) saw unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Traders bought 12,648 call options on the company. This is an increase of 2,084% compared to the typical daily volume of 579 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Altice USA news, Director Alt S.A.R.L. Next sold 805,230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.50, for a total value of $19,728,135.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,651,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $162,971,109. This trade represents a 10.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders have sold 15,299,331 shares of company stock valued at $374,833,610. Corporate insiders own 52.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Altice USA

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Altice USA by 0.4% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,669,487 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,566,000 after acquiring an additional 24,501 shares during the last quarter. Cerberus Capital Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Altice USA by 6.8% during the third quarter. Cerberus Capital Management L.P. now owns 3,940,785 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,694,000 after buying an additional 250,000 shares during the period. 140 Summer Partners LP purchased a new position in Altice USA in the 3rd quarter worth $9,004,000. LMR Partners LLP lifted its position in Altice USA by 217.5% during the 3rd quarter. LMR Partners LLP now owns 3,000,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,380,000 after acquiring an additional 2,055,000 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Altice USA by 7.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,682,757 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,602,000 after purchasing an additional 191,508 shares during the period. 54.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Altice USA Trading Up 3.7 %

Shares of ATUS traded up $0.09 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $2.52. The company had a trading volume of 2,456,042 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,299,006. The company has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a PE ratio of -6.81 and a beta of 1.50. Altice USA has a one year low of $1.52 and a one year high of $3.18. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $2.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $2.23.

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

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.