Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 5,969 Shares of CommScope Holding Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:COMM)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in CommScope Holding Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:COMM) by 28.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,729 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 5,969 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in CommScope were worth $90,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in CommScope by 19.9% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 5,074,507 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $6,242,000 after buying an additional 840,742 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in shares of CommScope by 10.9% during the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 4,678,037 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $6,128,000 after acquiring an additional 461,264 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of CommScope in the 3rd quarter worth $11,023,000. Marathon Asset Management LP raised its holdings in CommScope by 75.0% in the 2nd quarter. Marathon Asset Management LP now owns 1,750,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,152,000 after purchasing an additional 750,000 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in CommScope by 319.3% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,251,705 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,537,000 after purchasing an additional 953,171 shares in the last quarter. 88.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CommScope Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:COMM opened at $4.97 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.12 and a beta of 2.09. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $5.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $3.54. CommScope Holding Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $0.86 and a fifty-two week high of $7.19.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on COMM shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on CommScope from $1.25 to $2.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of CommScope from $2.70 to $5.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of CommScope from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Northland Securities raised their price target on CommScope from $1.25 to $2.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.