Short Interest in Clarivate Plc (NYSE:CLVT) Grows By 15.8%

Clarivate Plc (NYSE:CLVT) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 41,590,000 shares, an increase of 15.8% from the November 15th total of 35,930,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 5,140,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 8.1 days.

Clarivate Stock Up 7.6 %

Shares of CLVT traded up $0.39 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $5.50. The company had a trading volume of 6,420,601 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,596,281. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a market capitalization of $3.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.76 and a beta of 1.12. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $5.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $6.07. Clarivate has a 52 week low of $4.25 and a 52 week high of $9.60.

Clarivate (NYSE:CLVT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.19. Clarivate had a positive return on equity of 9.69% and a negative net margin of 50.00%. The business had revenue of $622.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $640.81 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.18 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Clarivate will post 0.63 EPS for the current year.

Clarivate announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, December 16th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 12.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Bar Veinstein sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.00, for a total transaction of $420,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 916,583 shares in the company, valued at $6,416,081. This represents a 6.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael J. Angelakis purchased 765,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was bought at an average price of $5.19 per share, for a total transaction of $3,970,350.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 3,465,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,983,350. This represents a 28.33 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 22.77% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CLVT. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Clarivate during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Truist Financial Corp bought a new stake in shares of Clarivate during the 2nd quarter valued at about $63,000. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Clarivate by 33.2% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 10,225 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 2,549 shares during the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP bought a new position in shares of Clarivate in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $75,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Clarivate by 749.2% in the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 14,632 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 12,909 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.72% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on CLVT shares. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Clarivate from $5.00 to $4.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Clarivate from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, William Blair lowered Clarivate from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $7.10.

About Clarivate

Clarivate Plc operates as an information services provider in the Americas, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. It operates through three segments: Academia & Government, Life Sciences & Healthcare, and Intellectual Property. The company offers Web of Science and InCites, that analyzes and explores the academic research landscape and manages research information; ProQuest One and Ebook Central that provides comprehensive content collections to institutions in a cost-effective manner; and Alma and Polaris, that manages academic resources and services, connect users, and support research publications.