Traders Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on CommScope (NASDAQ:COMM)

CommScope Holding Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:COMM) was the target of some unusual options trading on Monday. Stock investors bought 15,030 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 608% compared to the average volume of 2,124 put options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in CommScope by 109.1% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,475 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 2,857 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in CommScope by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 86,509 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $106,000 after buying an additional 4,466 shares during the last quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC acquired a new position in shares of CommScope during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Quarry LP raised its holdings in shares of CommScope by 1,005.4% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 8,114 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 7,380 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Belvedere Trading LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CommScope during the third quarter worth $68,000. 88.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CommScope Stock Performance

COMM stock opened at $5.34 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.15 billion, a PE ratio of -1.21 and a beta of 1.92. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $5.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $4.35. CommScope has a one year low of $0.86 and a one year high of $7.19.

CommScope (NASDAQ:COMM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.05) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.38). The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. CommScope had a negative net margin of 18.10% and a negative return on equity of 1.01%. CommScope’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.10 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that CommScope will post -0.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on COMM. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of CommScope from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $5.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Raymond James cut CommScope from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CommScope presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $2.50.

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.