Optical Cable (NASDAQ:OCC) Lowered to Hold Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Optical Cable (NASDAQ:OCC) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Saturday.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Optical Cable in a research note on Friday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Sell rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Optical Cable currently has a consensus rating of “Sell”.

Optical Cable Price Performance

Shares of OCC stock opened at $14.41 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $16.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.74. Optical Cable has a 12 month low of $4.02 and a 12 month high of $27.98. The company has a market capitalization of $127.24 million, a PE ratio of 120.09 and a beta of 0.54.

Optical Cable (NASDAQ:OCC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, June 8th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $22.21 million for the quarter. Optical Cable had a net margin of 1.29% and a return on equity of 5.92%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.09) EPS.

Insider Transactions at Optical Cable

In related news, CFO Tracy G. Smith sold 16,453 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.23, for a total transaction of $283,485.19. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 329,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,682,901.98. This represents a 4.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 22.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Gendell Jeffrey L raised its position in Optical Cable by 47.4% in the 4th quarter. Gendell Jeffrey L now owns 415,340 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,848,000 after purchasing an additional 133,510 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Optical Cable by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 268,932 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,197,000 after buying an additional 4,497 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of Optical Cable by 8.3% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 124,769 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $348,000 after buying an additional 9,535 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. acquired a new stake in Optical Cable in the first quarter valued at approximately $754,000. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP acquired a new stake in Optical Cable in the third quarter valued at approximately $487,000. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Optical Cable

Optical Cable Corporation (NASDAQ: OCC) is a publicly traded designer and manufacturer of optical fiber and copper communications cable solutions. Headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, the company develops a broad range of standard and custom cable assemblies, connectors, hardware and accessories. Its product portfolio addresses data transmission requirements in demanding environments, including long-haul telecommunications, industrial automation, defense systems and submersible applications.

The company’s offerings are organized across multiple product lines, encompassing outside-plant fiber optic cable for aerial and underground installations, indoor/outdoor copper connectivity and specialty engineered cable assemblies.