Investors Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Cipher Mining (NASDAQ:CIFR)

Cipher Mining Inc. (NASDAQ:CIFR) was the target of some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock traders purchased 39,367 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 161% compared to the typical daily volume of 15,102 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Northland Securities lifted their target price on Cipher Mining from $6.00 to $8.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $7.00 price objective on shares of Cipher Mining in a report on Friday, November 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $11.00 target price on shares of Cipher Mining in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Cipher Mining from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $8.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated coverage on shares of Cipher Mining in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cipher Mining presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $8.25.

Insider Activity at Cipher Mining

In related news, COO Patrick Arthur Kelly sold 53,161 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.16, for a total transaction of $380,632.76. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 664,270 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,756,173.20. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Top Holdco B.V. Bitfury sold 300,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.60, for a total transaction of $1,980,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 98,747,588 shares in the company, valued at $651,734,080.80. This trade represents a 0.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 356,881 shares of company stock valued at $2,388,389. 2.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cipher Mining

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Cipher Mining by 17.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,919,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,777,000 after buying an additional 1,019,949 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Cipher Mining by 37.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,509,853 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,327,000 after acquiring an additional 1,511,455 shares during the last quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co acquired a new position in Cipher Mining in the 3rd quarter worth about $4,029,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in Cipher Mining by 47.4% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 98,941 shares of the company’s stock valued at $383,000 after purchasing an additional 31,815 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Cipher Mining in the third quarter valued at about $553,000. Institutional investors own 12.26% of the company’s stock.

Cipher Mining Stock Performance

Shares of CIFR traded up $1.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $5.73. 43,060,805 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,434,807. The company has a quick ratio of 2.57, a current ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Cipher Mining has a 52 week low of $2.40 and a 52 week high of $7.99. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $5.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.00. The firm has a market cap of $1.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -44.07 and a beta of 2.38.

Cipher Mining (NASDAQ:CIFR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported ($0.26) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by ($0.18). Cipher Mining had a negative net margin of 33.39% and a negative return on equity of 8.29%. The firm had revenue of $24.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.84 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.07) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Cipher Mining will post -0.31 EPS for the current year.

About Cipher Mining

Cipher Mining Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the development and operation of industrial scale bitcoin mining data centers in the United States. The company was incorporated in 2020 and is based in New York, New York. Cipher Mining Inc operates as a subsidiary of Bitfury Holding B.V.