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

Cipher Mining Inc. (NASDAQ:CIFR) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock investors bought 39,367 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 161% compared to the typical volume of 15,102 call options.

Cipher Mining Trading Up 21.9 %

NASDAQ:CIFR opened at $5.73 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $5.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $5.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -44.07 and a beta of 2.38. Cipher Mining has a 1-year low of $2.40 and a 1-year high of $7.99. 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 (NASDAQ:CIFR) last announced 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). The firm had revenue of $24.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.84 million. Cipher Mining had a negative return on equity of 8.29% and a negative net margin of 33.39%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.07) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cipher Mining will post -0.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on CIFR shares. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $7.00 target price on shares of Cipher Mining in a research note on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Cipher Mining from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $8.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. BTIG Research increased their target price on shares of Cipher Mining from $6.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods assumed coverage on shares of Cipher Mining in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $7.50 target price on shares of Cipher Mining in a research report on Friday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cipher Mining currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $8.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cipher Mining

In other news, major shareholder Top Holdco B.V. Bitfury sold 300,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.60, for a total transaction of $1,980,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 98,747,588 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $651,734,080.80. The trade was a 0.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Patrick Arthur Kelly sold 53,161 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $4,756,173.20. The trade was a 7.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 356,881 shares of company stock worth $2,388,389 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.25% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cipher Mining

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIFR. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of Cipher Mining in the second quarter worth $2,142,000. Amalgamated Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Cipher Mining by 321.8% during the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 5,973 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 4,557 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. purchased a new stake in Cipher Mining in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $45,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cipher Mining by 55.3% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 69,789 shares of the company’s stock valued at $290,000 after acquiring an additional 24,842 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cipher Mining by 122.8% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 5,330,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,123,000 after acquiring an additional 2,938,184 shares during the last quarter. 12.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.