Short Interest in Altice USA, Inc. (NYSE:ATUS) Drops By 5.9%

Altice USA, Inc. (NYSE:ATUS) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 25,400,000 shares, a decline of 5.9% from the October 15th total of 26,990,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,420,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 7.4 days. Approximately 12.3% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Alt S.A.R.L. Next sold 805,227 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $932,366,389.50. This represents a 2.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 6,441,816 shares of company stock valued at $157,824,492. 52.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Altice USA

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new position in Altice USA in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altice USA during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. purchased a new position in shares of Altice USA in the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Wolverine Trading LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altice USA during the 3rd quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of Altice USA by 30.2% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 21,530 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares in the last quarter. 54.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ATUS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group lowered shares of Altice USA from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $4.00 to $2.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. TD Cowen decreased 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. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $2.22.

Altice USA Price Performance

ATUS stock opened at $2.47 on Monday. Altice USA has a 1 year low of $1.52 and a 1 year high of $3.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.14 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.68, a P/E/G ratio of 49.18 and a beta of 1.52. The business’s 50-day moving average is $2.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $2.16.

Altice USA (NYSE:ATUS) last issued its earnings results 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). Altice USA had a negative net margin of 1.85% and a negative return on equity of 1.54%. The firm had revenue of $2.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.15 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Altice USA will post 0.01 EPS for the current year.

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.