Charter Communications (NASDAQ:CHTR) Reaches New 12-Month Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Friday after Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on the stock from $280.00 to $240.00. Sanford C. Bernstein currently has a market perform rating on the stock. Charter Communications traded as low as $192.52 and last traded at $193.4110, with a volume of 209153 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $194.61.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on CHTR. Oppenheimer lowered Charter Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Charter Communications in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Charter Communications from $325.00 to $310.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. BNP Paribas Exane lowered their target price on shares of Charter Communications from $255.00 to $200.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Charter Communications from $215.00 to $210.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and seven have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $314.88.

Insider Transactions at Charter Communications

In related news, Director David C. Merritt sold 1,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.18, for a total value of $271,416.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 10,146 shares in the company, valued at $2,294,822.28. This trade represents a 10.58% 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 link. 0.83% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Charter Communications

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Charter Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,145,387,000. State Street Corp grew its position in Charter Communications by 22.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,961,695 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,190,302,000 after buying an additional 1,475,383 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors purchased a new position in Charter Communications in the third quarter valued at about $327,179,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Charter Communications by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,362,352 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,575,630,000 after acquiring an additional 1,130,648 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Charter Communications by 826.1% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,244,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $342,240,000 after acquiring an additional 1,109,703 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.76% of the company’s stock.

Charter Communications Stock Down 1.1%

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $205.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $260.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.91 billion, a PE ratio of 5.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.89.

Charter Communications (NASDAQ:CHTR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The company reported $8.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.66 by ($1.32). Charter Communications had a net margin of 9.29% and a return on equity of 25.55%. The firm had revenue of $13.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.76 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $8.82 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Charter Communications, Inc. will post 38.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Charter Communications Company Profile

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.