Optimum Communications slid 9.6% this week to $1.51. Short interest fell 14% over the month while insiders dumped $2.2M in stock during the past 90 days. Cost to borrow dropped 38% from March highs.
OPTU closed at $1.51 on April 24, down 9.6% for the week. The stock is up 20.8% over the trailing month. The cable operator has given back gains in recent sessions following a volatile first quarter.
Short interest stood at 30.24 million shares as of April 23, representing 10.6% of the float. Shares shorted declined 13.8% over the past month, falling from 35.27 million shares on March 13. The one-week change was minimal at -0.8%.
Days to cover reached 18.62 based on the latest FINRA fortnightly report dated April 15.
Cost to borrow sat at 0.64% on April 23. CTB has fallen 38% from a month ago when it stood at 1.03%. The metric spiked to 1.41% on March 24 before retreating. Over the past week CTB dropped 21.6%.
Utilisation registered 15.25% on April 23, well below the 52-week high of 34.17%. Utilisation climbed from 12.09% on March 13 to 19.75% on March 27, then eased back. The current reading is up from 14.58% a week ago.
The put-call ratio reached 0.1842 on April 24. The 20-day mean PCR is 0.167, with a standard deviation of 0.0046. The current reading carries a z-score of 3.74, indicating elevated put activity relative to recent patterns. The 52-week PCR range runs from 0.0554 to 0.3555.
Citigroup analyst Michael Rollins lowered his price target to $1.50 from $1.90 on April 8 while maintaining a Neutral rating. Evercore ISI's Kutgun Maral cut his target to $2.00 from $2.50 on February 13, also keeping an In-Line rating. Benchmark's Matthew Harrigan downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy on February 11. The mean analyst price target sits at $1.64.
The EV/EBITDA multiple registered 8.03 on April 24, up slightly from 8.00 a month prior. The price-to-book ratio stood at -0.31, deteriorating from -0.25 thirty days earlier. Enterprise value reached $26.29 billion.
OPTU's short score ranks in the 7th percentile. The stock sits in the 20th percentile for its sector. Days to cover ranks in the 12th percentile, while utilisation is in the 41st percentile. The analyst recommendation differential ranks in the 48th percentile. The dividend score sits at the 33rd percentile. EV/EBIT ranks in the 40th percentile.
The ORTEX short score reached 67.28 on April 23, down from 69.12 on April 10.
Vanguard added 476,031 shares through March 31, lifting its stake to 27.88 million shares, or 5.9% of the company. BlackRock increased its position by 1.16 million shares to 20.43 million, representing 4.3% of shares outstanding.
Millennium Management boosted its holding by 3.37 million shares to 14.83 million as of December 31. Deutsche Bank increased its stake by 3.5 million shares to 13.5 million. King Street Capital Management added 3.99 million shares, bringing its position to 8.03 million.
Patrick Drahi remained the largest holder with 188.73 million shares, or 40.1% of the company, unchanged from April 2025.
Insiders sold a net 1.52 million shares worth $2.19 million over the past 90 days. No purchases were recorded.
CEO Dennis Mathew sold 484,042 shares at $1.42 on February 27, valued at $687,340. CFO Marc Sirota offloaded 338,121 shares the same day at $1.42 for $480,132. General Counsel Michael Olsen sold 236,496 shares on February 27 at $1.42, worth $335,824. On February 17, Olsen sold an additional 250,000 shares at $1.60 for $400,000. President Michael Parker disposed of 137,217 shares on February 27 at $1.42, generating $194,848.
More recently, Olsen sold 20,000 shares at $1.29 on April 1 for $25,800. Chief Accounting Officer Maria Bruzzese sold 5,914 shares at $1.29 on April 8 for $7,629.
OPTU is scheduled to report earnings on May 1 at 11:00 AM UTC. The cable operator last paid a dividend in 2018.
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