Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Clearfield (NASDAQ:CLFD)

Clearfield (NASDAQ:CLFD)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $50.00 price objective on the communications equipment provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 63.77% from the stock’s current price.

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Clearfield from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.75.

Clearfield Stock Down 2.4 %

CLFD stock opened at $30.53 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $431.45 million, a PE ratio of -48.46 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a fifty day moving average of $33.34 and a 200-day moving average of $34.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 7.41 and a current ratio of 10.57. Clearfield has a one year low of $26.94 and a one year high of $44.83.

Clearfield (NASDAQ:CLFD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.13) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.26) by $0.13. Clearfield had a negative net margin of 5.41% and a negative return on equity of 3.31%. As a group, analysts expect that Clearfield will post -0.29 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO John P. Hill sold 16,539 shares of Clearfield stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.26, for a total transaction of $550,087.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 189,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,315,608.36. The trade was a 8.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 17.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in shares of Clearfield by 340.6% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,172 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 906 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Clearfield during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $53,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in Clearfield in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $74,000. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new position in Clearfield during the third quarter worth $80,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Clearfield by 45.5% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 5,297 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $164,000 after acquiring an additional 1,656 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.73% of the company’s stock.

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.