6,178,079 Shares in CommScope Holding Company, Inc. $COMM Bought by Apollo Management Holdings L.P.

Key Points

• Apollo Management Holdings L.P. has purchased a new position in CommScope Holding Company, Inc., acquiring 6,178,079 shares valued at approximately $32.8 million, making it the fund's 14th largest position.
• CommScope's stock has seen significant institutional interest, with 88.04% of shares held by institutional investors and notable position increases by firms like Deutsche Bank and Hudson Bay Capital Management.
• The company reported a 31.7% year-over-year increase in revenue for the last quarter, exceeding both earnings per share and revenue expectations from analysts.

Apollo Management Holdings L.P. purchased a new position in shares of CommScope Holding Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:COMM - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 6,178,079 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $32,806,000. CommScope makes up approximately 0.6% of Apollo Management Holdings L.P.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Apollo Management Holdings L.P. owned about 2.85% of CommScope as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Graham Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in CommScope by 47.6% during the 1st quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. now owns 297,929 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,582,000 after buying an additional 96,129 shares in the last quarter. Alpine Global Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CommScope during the first quarter worth $476,000. Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CommScope in the first quarter valued at $1,790,000. Jones Road Capital Management L.P. boosted its holdings in CommScope by 61.9% in the first quarter. Jones Road Capital Management L.P. now owns 607,000 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $3,223,000 after purchasing an additional 232,000 shares during the period. Finally, Versor Investments LP grew its stake in CommScope by 531.9% during the 1st quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 104,900 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $557,000 after purchasing an additional 88,300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.04% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on COMM. Wall Street Zen cut CommScope from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of CommScope in a research note on Monday, July 7th. They issued a "peer perform" rating for the company. Raymond James Financial raised shares of CommScope from an "underperform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $19.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of CommScope from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $4.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on CommScope from $6.00 to $7.50 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CommScope presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $14.75.

CommScope Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of NASDAQ COMM traded down $0.24 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $16.02. The company had a trading volume of 3,382,204 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,453,005. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $7.50. CommScope Holding Company, Inc. has a 52-week low of $2.94 and a 52-week high of $16.61. The stock has a market cap of $3.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.02, a PEG ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 2.47.

CommScope (NASDAQ:COMM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $1.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.27 billion. CommScope had a net margin of 16.61% and a negative return on equity of 6.29%. CommScope's revenue for the quarter was up 31.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.34 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that CommScope Holding Company, Inc. will post -0.24 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.