Quest Partners LLC Decreases Stake in Clear Secure, Inc. (NYSE:YOU)

Quest Partners LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Clear Secure, Inc. (NYSE:YOU) by 76.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,465 shares of the company’s stock after selling 14,655 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC’s holdings in Clear Secure were worth $148,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Clear Secure by 11.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,571,993 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,866,000 after buying an additional 1,111,330 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in Clear Secure by 56.5% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,954,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,271,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066,400 shares in the last quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Clear Secure by 303.6% in the second quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 1,199,649 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,445,000 after buying an additional 902,436 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in Clear Secure by 278.3% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,099,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,563,000 after buying an additional 808,515 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in Clear Secure by 56.3% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,103,578 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,358,000 after purchasing an additional 757,528 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YOU has been the topic of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Clear Secure from $27.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $26.00 price target (up from $24.00) on shares of Clear Secure in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Clear Secure in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Telsey Advisory Group lifted their target price on Clear Secure from $34.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Clear Secure from $24.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.67.

Insider Activity at Clear Secure

In related news, CFO Kenneth L. Cornick sold 250,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.30, for a total value of $8,075,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Dennis W. Liu sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.05, for a total value of $46,575.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $223,901.55. This represents a 17.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 901,500 shares of company stock worth $29,055,829 over the last ninety days. 37.85% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Clear Secure Trading Down 2.3 %

NYSE YOU opened at $26.11 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $32.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.64. Clear Secure, Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.05 and a 52 week high of $38.88. The stock has a market cap of $3.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.36 and a beta of 1.63.

Clear Secure (NYSE:YOU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $198.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $194.62 million. Clear Secure had a return on equity of 48.28% and a net margin of 10.93%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.20 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Clear Secure, Inc. will post 0.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Clear Secure Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. This is a positive change from Clear Secure’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 10th. Clear Secure’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.14%.

About Clear Secure

Clear Secure, Inc operates a secure identity platform under the CLEAR brand name primarily in the United States. Its secure identity platform is a multi-layered infrastructure consisting of front-end, including enrollment, verification, and linking, as well as back-end. The company also offers CLEAR Plus, a consumer aviation subscription service, which enables access to predictable entry lanes in airport security checkpoints, as well as access to broader network; and CLEAR mobile app, which is used to enroll new members and improve the experience for existing members.