Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) Given Average Rating of “Reduce” by Brokerages

Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) has earned an average rating of “Reduce” from the twenty ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have given a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $278.50.

A number of brokerages recently commented on CHTR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Charter Communications in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $215.00 target price for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Charter Communications in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. New Street Research decreased their price objective on Charter Communications from $328.00 to $302.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Charter Communications from $290.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Charter Communications in a research note on Wednesday.

Charter Communications Stock Performance

Shares of Charter Communications stock opened at $133.64 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $155.75 and a 200 day moving average of $194.48. Charter Communications has a 12 month low of $124.05 and a 12 month high of $422.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.23 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.56, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.40.

Charter Communications (NASDAQ:CHTR) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 24th. The company reported $9.17 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.01 by ($0.84). Charter Communications had a net margin of 9.03% and a return on equity of 24.20%. The firm had revenue of $13.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $8.42 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Charter Communications will post 43 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Charter Communications news, Director Balan Nair bought 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $175.46 per share, with a total value of $175,460.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 12,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,110,608.34. The trade was a 9.07% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Christopher L. Winfrey bought 3,468 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $172.23 per share, for a total transaction of $597,293.64. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 74,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,815,462.07. This represents a 4.89% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have bought 20,125 shares of company stock worth $3,167,116. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Charter Communications

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dodge & Cox raised its position in shares of Charter Communications by 23.7% during the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 14,609,220 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,049,675,000 after acquiring an additional 2,801,671 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Charter Communications by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,248,287 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,139,330,000 after buying an additional 885,935 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased 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 increased its position in Charter Communications by 304.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,815,422 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,005,222,000 after buying an additional 3,626,135 shares during the period. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its position in 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 worth $619,885,000 after buying an additional 1,617,148 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.