Clarivate (NYSE:CLVT) Stock Falls 7.7% - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• Clarivate shares fell 7.7% to approximately $1.63, with trading volume well below its average. The stock is trading below both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages.
• Analyst sentiment is cautious: the consensus rating is “Reduce”, with one Buy, four Hold, and three Sell ratings; the consensus price target is $3.02.
• Clarivate narrowly beat quarterly earnings expectations, but revenue declined 5.5% year over year and the company posted a negative net margin. Insider activity was mixed, with one director selling 2.49 million shares while another bought 250,000 shares.

Clarivate PLC (NYSE:CLVT - Get Free Report) shares were down 7.7% on Thursday. The company traded as low as $1.64 and last traded at $1.6250. Approximately 1,889,026 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 5,983,443 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1.76.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on CLVT. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Clarivate from $6.00 to $5.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. William Blair lowered shares of Clarivate to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Clarivate from $2.50 to $2.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Clarivate from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Clarivate from $2.90 to $2.60 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $3.02.

Clarivate Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The stock has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.18 and a beta of 1.40. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $1.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $2.25.

Clarivate (NYSE:CLVT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.01. Clarivate had a positive return on equity of 9.15% and a negative net margin of 13.84%. The company had revenue of $587.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $589.73 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.18 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Clarivate PLC will post 0.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Andrew Snyder sold 2,489,618 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.94, for a total value of $4,829,858.92. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,856,597 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,481,798.18. This represents a 39.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kenneth L. Cornick bought 250,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $1.85 per share, with a total value of $462,500.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 2,000,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,700,000. The trade was a 14.29% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders own 22.88% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Clarivate

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CLVT. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Clarivate by 10.3% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,522,601 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,972,000 after purchasing an additional 516,418 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Clarivate by 418.6% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,015,829 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,100,000 after purchasing an additional 1,627,159 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Clarivate by 1.3% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,845,148 shares of the company's stock worth $4,668,000 after purchasing an additional 24,257 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV purchased a new position in Clarivate during the 1st quarter worth $4,118,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake in Clarivate during the 1st quarter valued at $3,342,000. Institutional investors own 85.72% of the company's stock.

About Clarivate

Clarivate Plc NYSE: CLVT provides analytics, data, and workflow solutions to organizations in academia, government, research, life sciences, and intellectual property. Its offerings are designed to help customers evaluate research, manage information, accelerate innovation, and support strategic decision-making.

The company's products include Web of Science research databases and citation analytics, InCites research evaluation tools, Derwent innovation and patent intelligence services, and Cortellis life sciences and drug-development information.

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