Short Interest in CommScope Holding Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:COMM) Declines By 5.1%

CommScope Holding Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:COMM – Get Rating) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 8,990,000 shares, a decrease of 5.1% from the February 13th total of 9,470,000 shares. Approximately 4.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,740,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.3 days.

CommScope Stock Performance

Shares of COMM opened at $6.35 on Thursday. CommScope has a 52 week low of $5.56 and a 52 week high of $13.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.98, a PEG ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 1.85. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $7.96 and a 200-day moving average of $9.28.

CommScope (NASDAQ:COMM – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 23rd. The communications equipment provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.34 billion. CommScope had a negative return on equity of 51.71% and a negative net margin of 14.11%. CommScope’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.23 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that CommScope will post 1.9 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COMM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America raised CommScope from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $8.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on CommScope from $14.00 to $10.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 20th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on CommScope in a research note on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on CommScope from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 13th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group cut their target price on CommScope from $17.00 to $13.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Claudius E. Iv Watts purchased 10,000 shares of CommScope stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 10th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $6.75 per share, with a total value of $67,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,500. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of CommScope

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of COMM. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in CommScope by 5.6% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 808,218 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $6,367,000 after purchasing an additional 43,072 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its holdings in CommScope by 48.5% in the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 137,200 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,081,000 after purchasing an additional 44,800 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in CommScope in the first quarter valued at $51,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in CommScope during the 1st quarter worth about $102,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in CommScope by 22.1% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 14,164,751 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $111,616,000 after acquiring an additional 2,560,861 shares during the period. 90.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CommScope Company Profile

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CommScope Holding Co, Inc engages in the provision of infrastructure solutions for communications networks. It operates through the following segments: Broadband, Home, Outdoor Wireless Networks (OWN), and Venue and Campus Networks (VCN). The company was founded by Frank M. Drendel in 1976 and is headquartered in Hickory, NC.