Insider Selling: Optimum Communications (NYSE:OPTU) General Counsel Sells 20,000 Shares of Stock

Optimum Communications, Inc. (NYSE:OPTU) General Counsel Michael Olsen sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.59, for a total transaction of $31,800.00. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 1,199,781 shares in the company, valued at $1,907,651.79. This trade represents a 1.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Michael Olsen also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, April 1st, Michael Olsen sold 20,000 shares of Optimum Communications stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.29, for a total transaction of $25,800.00.
• On Monday, March 2nd, Michael Olsen sold 20,000 shares of Optimum Communications stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.40, for a total transaction of $28,000.00.
• On Tuesday, February 17th, Michael Olsen sold 250,000 shares of Optimum Communications stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.60, for a total transaction of $400,000.00.

Optimum Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE OPTU traded down $0.10 during trading on Monday, reaching $1.51. 2,838,521 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,498,714. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $1.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1.71. Optimum Communications, Inc. has a 52-week low of $1.20 and a 52-week high of $2.98.

Optimum Communications (NYSE:OPTU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported ($0.15) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by ($0.14). The business’s revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.12) EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Optimum Communications, Inc. will post -0.4 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Optimum Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Zacks Research raised shares of Optimum Communications from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Optimum Communications from $1.90 to $1.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Evercore set a $2.00 price objective on shares of Optimum Communications in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Benchmark downgraded shares of Optimum Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Optimum Communications has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $1.88.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Optimum Communications

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in OPTU. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in Optimum Communications by 365.8% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,171,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,775,000 after acquiring an additional 1,704,908 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Optimum Communications by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 806,675 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,146,000 after acquiring an additional 36,260 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Optimum Communications by 10.5% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 5,516,311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,673,000 after buying an additional 524,169 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Optimum Communications by 46.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,397,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,016,000 after buying an additional 2,031,971 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caxton Associates LLP bought a new stake in shares of Optimum Communications during the first quarter valued at approximately $88,000. Institutional investors own 54.85% of the company’s stock.

About Optimum Communications

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 approximately five million 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.