Clearfield (NASDAQ:CLFD) Shares Down 7% – What’s Next?

Clearfield, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLFD)’s share price fell 7% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $35.92 and last traded at $35.92. 41,890 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 156,926 shares. The stock had previously closed at $38.61.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on CLFD. Northland Securities upped their target price on shares of Clearfield from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Roth Mkm dropped their target price on shares of Clearfield from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Clearfield from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday. Lake Street Capital raised shares of Clearfield from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $31.00 to $47.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Clearfield in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Clearfield presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.75.

Clearfield Price Performance

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.14. The firm has a market cap of $518.51 million, a P/E ratio of -145.32 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 5.73 and a current ratio of 8.38.

Clearfield (NASDAQ:CLFD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by $0.30. The business had revenue of $48.79 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $42.13 million. Clearfield had a negative net margin of 5.26% and a negative return on equity of 3.06%. The business’s revenue was down 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.33 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Clearfield, Inc. will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Clearfield news, Director Walter Louis Jones, Jr. bought 1,324 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $37.77 per share, for a total transaction of $50,007.48. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $228,923.97. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 16.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Clearfield

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CLFD. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Clearfield by 172.9% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 113,904 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $3,531,000 after purchasing an additional 72,164 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Clearfield by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,012,432 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $31,223,000 after purchasing an additional 14,307 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Clearfield in the 2nd quarter worth about $835,000. Creative Planning raised its position in Clearfield by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 98,088 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $3,782,000 after purchasing an additional 2,426 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Clearfield by 83.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 228,173 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $8,798,000 after purchasing an additional 103,648 shares during the period. 88.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.