Royal Bank of Canada Reiterates “Sector Perform” Rating for Clarivate (NYSE:CLVT)

Clarivate (NYSE:CLVT)‘s stock had its “sector perform” rating reissued by research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $6.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective points to a potential upside of 21.83% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Barclays lowered their target price on Clarivate from $5.00 to $4.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. William Blair cut Clarivate from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $7.10.

Clarivate Price Performance

Shares of Clarivate stock traded up $0.17 on Thursday, hitting $4.93. 4,108,643 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,165,859. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.47 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $5.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.81. Clarivate has a 1-year low of $4.22 and a 1-year high of $9.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Clarivate declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, December 16th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 12.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Clarivate

In other news, Director Michael J. Angelakis purchased 765,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $5.19 per share, for a total transaction of $3,970,350.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,465,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,983,350. This trade represents a 28.33 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 22.77% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Clarivate by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 70,733,831 shares of the company’s stock worth $359,328,000 after purchasing an additional 5,319,535 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Clarivate by 53.6% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 27,776,892 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,107,000 after acquiring an additional 9,691,104 shares during the period. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC increased its position in shares of Clarivate by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 10,498,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,333,000 after acquiring an additional 1,323,329 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd increased its position in shares of Clarivate by 24.6% during the fourth quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 9,192,680 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,699,000 after acquiring an additional 1,816,936 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Clarivate by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,750,858 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,454,000 after acquiring an additional 538,907 shares during the period. 85.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Clarivate Company Profile

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.