Clearfield (NASDAQ:CLFD) Stock Price Up 6.5% – Should You Buy?

Clearfield, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLFD)’s stock price traded up 6.5% on Friday . The company traded as high as $36.92 and last traded at $37.00. 64,876 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 44% from the average session volume of 115,730 shares. The stock had previously closed at $34.74.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CLFD has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Clearfield in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com lowered Clearfield from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.75.

Clearfield Trading Up 5.5 %

The stock has a market cap of $517.67 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -43.22 and a beta of 1.27. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 9.43 and a quick ratio of 6.69.

Clearfield (NASDAQ:CLFD) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.19) by $0.13. Clearfield had a negative return on equity of 4.41% and a negative net margin of 7.47%. The firm had revenue of $46.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.95 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.17 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Clearfield, Inc. will post -0.16 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Clearfield

In other Clearfield news, Chairman Ronald G. Roth purchased 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $31.00 per share, with a total value of $155,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chairman now owns 1,266,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,270,676. The trade was a 0.40 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 17.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Clearfield

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC grew its position in Clearfield by 12.2% in the third quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 249,087 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $9,704,000 after buying an additional 27,178 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Clearfield by 83.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 228,173 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $8,798,000 after acquiring an additional 103,648 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its holdings in shares of Clearfield by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 98,599 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $3,841,000 after acquiring an additional 511 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Clearfield by 164.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 87,971 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $3,428,000 after purchasing an additional 54,670 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of Clearfield by 2.7% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 30,062 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,171,000 after purchasing an additional 794 shares during the period. 88.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Clearfield

Clearfield, Inc manufactures and sells various fiber connectivity products in the United States and internationally. The company offers FieldSmart, a series of panels, cabinets, wall boxes, and other enclosures; WaveSmart, an optical components integrated for signal coupling, splitting, termination, multiplexing, demultiplexing, and attenuation for integration within its fiber management platform; and active cabinet products.