CommScope (NASDAQ:COMM) Rating Lowered to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley cut shares of CommScope (NASDAQ:COMM – Get Rating) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report issued on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $11.00 target price on the communications equipment provider’s stock, up from their previous target price of $9.00.

COMM has been the topic of several other reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of CommScope from $14.00 to $9.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 13th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of CommScope from $8.50 to $6.00 in a research report on Friday, May 6th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of CommScope from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an in-line rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 28th. Raymond James cut shares of CommScope from a market perform rating to an underperform rating in a report on Monday, April 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of CommScope from $9.00 to $7.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $9.67.

CommScope Stock Performance

CommScope stock opened at $9.70 on Friday. CommScope has a 1 year low of $5.56 and a 1 year high of $16.74. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $7.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $7.75.

CommScope (NASDAQ:COMM – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.12. CommScope had a negative net margin of 4.65% and a negative return on equity of 145.83%. The firm had revenue of $2.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that CommScope will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Charles L. Treadway bought 59,927 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $8.34 per share, with a total value of $499,791.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,212,302 shares in the company, valued at $10,110,598.68. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Charles L. Treadway acquired 59,927 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $8.34 per share, with a total value of $499,791.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,212,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,110,598.68. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Farid Firouzbakht acquired 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $6.97 per share, with a total value of $69,700.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 149,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,044,273.28. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought a total of 87,814 shares of company stock valued at $714,555 in the last quarter. Insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in COMM. First Republic Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in CommScope by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. First Republic Investment Management Inc. now owns 55,999 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $618,000 after acquiring an additional 1,122 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in CommScope by 27.3% during the second quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 6,353 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 1,364 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in CommScope by 25.9% during the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 7,082 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 1,455 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in CommScope by 4.8% during the first quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 41,891 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $330,000 after buying an additional 1,901 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CI Investments Inc. grew its stake in CommScope by 20.7% during the first quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 17,500 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $138,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.71% of the company’s stock.

CommScope Company Profile

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CommScope Holding Company, Inc provides infrastructure solutions for communications and entertainment networks. It operates through four segments: Broadband Networks (Broadband), Outdoor Wireless Networks (OWN), Venue and Campus Networks (VCN), and Home Networks (Home). The Broadband segment provides converged cable access platforms, passive optical networking products, video systems, access technologies, fiber and coaxial cables, fiber and copper connectivity products, and hardened closures to the telco and cable provider broadband market.