Caxton Associates LLP Buys New Position in CommScope Holding Company, Inc. $COMM

Key Points

• Caxton Associates LLP purchased 85,700 shares of CommScope Holding Company, Inc. valued at approximately $455,000 during the first quarter.
• Notable hedge funds, including Goldman Sachs, have significantly increased their holdings in CommScope, with Goldman Sachs raising its position by 244.8%, now owning over 9.4 million shares.
• CommScope recently reported earnings of $0.44 EPS for the quarter, exceeding expectations and showing a 31.7% year-over-year revenue growth, amounting to $1.39 billion.

Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new stake in CommScope Holding Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:COMM - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 85,700 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $455,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in CommScope by 8.2% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 10,050,618 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $53,369,000 after acquiring an additional 761,605 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in CommScope by 244.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 9,498,510 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $50,437,000 after buying an additional 6,743,929 shares during the period. Apollo Management Holdings L.P. acquired a new position in CommScope in the first quarter valued at about $32,806,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in CommScope in the first quarter valued at about $13,507,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in CommScope by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,087,160 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $10,874,000 after buying an additional 250,761 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.04% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on COMM shares. Morgan Stanley raised CommScope from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and increased their target price for the company from $4.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Northland Securities set a $20.00 target price on CommScope in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on CommScope from $6.00 to $7.50 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Citigroup raised CommScope to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on CommScope in a research note on Monday, July 7th. They issued a "peer perform" rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, CommScope currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $14.75.

CommScope Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of NASDAQ COMM traded up $0.24 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $16.54. 4,859,092 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,981,435. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.22, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 2.47. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $8.16. CommScope Holding Company, Inc. has a twelve month low of $2.94 and a twelve month high of $16.83.

CommScope (NASDAQ:COMM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $1.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.27 billion. CommScope had a negative return on equity of 6.29% and a net margin of 16.61%.CommScope's revenue was up 31.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.34 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that CommScope Holding Company, Inc. will post -0.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CommScope Profile

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.