Charter Communications (NASDAQ:CHTR) Raised to Hold at Zacks Research

Charter Communications (NASDAQ:CHTR) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on CHTR. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Charter Communications in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Charter Communications in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Charter Communications in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Charter Communications from $235.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Freedom Capital raised shares of Charter Communications to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $226.88.

Charter Communications Stock Performance

Shares of Charter Communications stock opened at $153.17 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $18.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.98, a P/E/G ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 0.70. Charter Communications has a twelve month low of $111.55 and a twelve month high of $285.82. The company’s fifty day moving average is $135.93 and its 200 day moving average is $180.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.32.

Charter Communications (NASDAQ:CHTR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 24th. The company reported $10.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.98 by $0.68. Charter Communications had a return on equity of 23.71% and a net margin of 9.05%.The firm had revenue of $13.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $9.18 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Charter Communications will post 42.72 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Thomas Rutledge sold 18,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.94, for a total transaction of $2,674,308.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,968 shares in the company, valued at $583,057.92. This trade represents a 82.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Mauricio Ramos acquired 9,929 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was bought at an average price of $140.93 per share, with a total value of $1,399,293.97. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 19,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,721,217.37. The trade was a 105.85% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Charter Communications

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CHTR. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC lifted its position in Charter Communications by 1,804.0% during the 4th quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 102,528 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,403,000 after acquiring an additional 97,143 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Charter Communications in the fourth quarter worth about $5,911,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Charter Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $555,383,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Charter Communications by 119.6% during the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 2,969,507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $619,885,000 after purchasing an additional 1,617,148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Charter Communications by 110.7% during the fourth quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 31,239 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,521,000 after purchasing an additional 16,415 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.76% of the company’s stock.

About Charter Communications

Charter Communications, Inc is a U.S.-based telecommunications and mass media company that provides broadband communications and video services to residential and business customers. Operating primarily under the Spectrum brand, the company offers high-speed internet, cable television, digital voice (phone) and wireless services, as well as managed and enterprise networking solutions for commercial customers. Charter’s service portfolio targets both consumer and business markets with bundled and standalone offerings designed to meet streaming, connectivity and communications needs.

The company’s consumer-facing products include Spectrum Internet, Spectrum TV and Spectrum Voice, while Spectrum Mobile provides wireless service through arrangements with national wireless carriers.