Clearfield (NASDAQ:CLFD) Receives “Buy” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Clearfield (NASDAQ:CLFD) in a research note published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a $36.00 target price on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

Separately, Roth Mkm reduced their target price on Clearfield from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Clearfield presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $42.20.

Clearfield Price Performance

Clearfield stock opened at $28.25 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $415.56 million, a P/E ratio of 34.45 and a beta of 1.32. Clearfield has a 12-month low of $22.91 and a 12-month high of $50.82. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $29.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.89.

Clearfield (NASDAQ:CLFD) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.35) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.40) by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $34.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.88 million. Clearfield had a net margin of 6.00% and a return on equity of 4.22%. Clearfield’s revenue was down 60.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Clearfield will post -1.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Clearfield

In other news, Chairman Ronald G. Roth purchased 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $29.62 per share, for a total transaction of $59,240.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chairman now directly owns 1,259,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,315,157.52. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 16.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Clearfield

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CLFD. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in Clearfield by 54.4% during the third quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 690 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the period. Credit Suisse AG increased its holdings in Clearfield by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Credit Suisse AG now owns 8,134 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $503,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Clearfield by 6.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,959 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $307,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Clearfield by 0.3% in the second quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 119,015 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,373,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA boosted its position in shares of Clearfield by 6.6% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA now owns 5,786 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $377,000 after buying an additional 359 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.