Altice USA, Inc. (NYSE:ATUS) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Altice USA, Inc. (NYSE:ATUS) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 25,620,000 shares, a growth of 8.5% from the November 30th total of 23,620,000 shares. Approximately 11.8% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,290,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.8 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Altice USA from $6.00 to $3.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Altice USA from $2.50 to $3.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $2.30.

Altice USA Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ATUS opened at $2.41 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $2.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $2.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.11 billion, a PE ratio of -6.51 and a beta of 1.53. Altice USA has a fifty-two week low of $1.52 and a fifty-two week high of $3.29.

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

Insider Activity at Altice USA

In other Altice USA news, Director Alt S.A.R.L. Next sold 805,227 shares of Altice USA stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.50, for a total transaction of $19,728,061.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 38,055,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $932,366,389.50. The trade was a 2.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders sold 15,299,331 shares of company stock valued at $374,833,610. 52.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Altice USA by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,669,487 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,566,000 after buying an additional 24,501 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC bought a new position in Altice USA in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. XTX Topco Ltd raised its stake in Altice USA by 112.1% during the second quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 81,314 shares of the company’s stock worth $166,000 after acquiring an additional 42,975 shares in the last quarter. King Street Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Altice USA in the second quarter worth about $5,100,000. Finally, Aristeia Capital L.L.C. bought a new position in shares of Altice USA in the second quarter worth about $657,000. 54.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.