Optical Cable (NASDAQ:OCC) Upgraded to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Optical Cable (NASDAQ:OCC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday.

OCC has been the subject of several other research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Optical Cable in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Zacks Research raised Optical Cable to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce”.

Optical Cable Stock Performance

Optical Cable stock opened at $13.55 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.55. Optical Cable has a 1-year low of $4.02 and a 1-year high of $27.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market cap of $119.65 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 112.93 and a beta of 0.55.

Optical Cable (NASDAQ:OCC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, June 8th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Optical Cable had a net margin of 1.29% and a return on equity of 5.92%. The business had revenue of $22.21 million during the quarter. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.09) EPS. On average, analysts expect that Optical Cable will post 0.49 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Optical Cable news, CFO Tracy G. Smith sold 16,453 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.23, for a total value of $283,485.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 329,826 shares in the company, valued at $5,682,901.98. The trade was a 4.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 22.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Optical Cable

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Gendell Jeffrey L grew its stake in Optical Cable by 47.4% during the 4th quarter. Gendell Jeffrey L now owns 415,340 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,848,000 after purchasing an additional 133,510 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Optical Cable by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 268,932 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,197,000 after purchasing an additional 4,497 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in Optical Cable by 8.3% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 124,769 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $348,000 after purchasing an additional 9,535 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. purchased a new position in shares of Optical Cable in the 1st quarter valued at about $754,000. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP purchased a new position in shares of Optical Cable in the 3rd quarter valued at about $487,000. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Optical Cable

Optical Cable Corporation (NASDAQ: OCC) is a publicly traded designer and manufacturer of optical fiber and copper communications cable solutions. Headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, the company develops a broad range of standard and custom cable assemblies, connectors, hardware and accessories. Its product portfolio addresses data transmission requirements in demanding environments, including long-haul telecommunications, industrial automation, defense systems and submersible applications.

The company’s offerings are organized across multiple product lines, encompassing outside-plant fiber optic cable for aerial and underground installations, indoor/outdoor copper connectivity and specialty engineered cable assemblies.