Traders Buy Large Volume of Altice USA Call Options (NYSE:ATUS)

Altice USA, Inc. (NYSE:ATUS) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders acquired 12,648 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 2,084% compared to the typical volume of 579 call options.

Altice USA Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ATUS traded up $0.09 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $2.75. The company had a trading volume of 1,748,763 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,095,449. Altice USA has a 1-year low of $1.52 and a 1-year high of $3.18. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $2.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $2.23. The firm has a market cap of $1.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.42 and a beta of 1.50.

Altice USA (NYSE:ATUS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.09) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.04 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.15 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Altice USA will post -0.06 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Alt S.A.R.L. Next sold 805,230 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.50, for a total transaction of $19,728,135.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 14,704,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $360,252,459. The trade was a 5.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold 15,299,331 shares of company stock valued at $374,833,610 over the last 90 days. 52.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Altice USA

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Altice USA by 1,617.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,902,834 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,681,000 after buying an additional 1,792,054 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Altice USA by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,682,757 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,602,000 after acquiring an additional 191,508 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Altice USA by 120.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,527,424 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,756,000 after purchasing an additional 834,030 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd lifted its position in shares of Altice USA by 476.7% in the third quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 468,969 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,154,000 after purchasing an additional 387,655 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wolverine Trading LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altice USA during the third quarter worth approximately $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.85% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ATUS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Altice USA from $2.50 to $3.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Altice USA from $6.00 to $3.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Altice USA currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $2.30.

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.