CommScope Holding Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:COMM) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

CommScope Holding Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:COMM) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,810,000 shares, a growth of 8.0% from the March 31st total of 8,160,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,020,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COMM has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of CommScope from $2.00 to $1.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of CommScope in a research report on Monday, March 4th. StockNews.com downgraded CommScope from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of CommScope in a report on Friday, March 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $4.02.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director L William Krause acquired 57,300 shares of CommScope stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $1.59 per share, with a total value of $91,107.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 227,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,318.07. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CommScope

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of CommScope by 22.0% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 27,568 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 4,978 shares during the last quarter. Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of CommScope by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC now owns 23,813 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 5,553 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in CommScope by 55.3% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 19,514 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 6,949 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its holdings in CommScope by 14.6% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 73,992 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $249,000 after buying an additional 9,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. acquired a new stake in CommScope during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. 88.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CommScope Price Performance

Shares of COMM stock opened at $0.87 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $1.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $184.25 million, a P/E ratio of -0.12 and a beta of 1.98. CommScope has a 12 month low of $0.86 and a 12 month high of $6.65.

CommScope (NASDAQ:COMM) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. CommScope had a negative return on equity of 7.18% and a negative net margin of 21.64%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that CommScope will post -0.48 EPS for the current year.

About CommScope

CommScope Holding Company, Inc provides infrastructure solutions for communications, data center, and entertainment networks worldwide. The company operates through Connectivity and Cable Solutions (CCS); Outdoor Wireless Networks (OWN); Networking, Intelligent Cellular and Security Solutions (NICS), and Access Network Solutions (ANS) segments.